Wolf in Shepard's Clothing
by cmitts93
Summary: My name is Nathaniel Wolfert. The day everything changed was when I was handed a gun and told to kill someone. This is my story and how I altered the events of the galaxy. OC insert with several other OC's sprinkled in throughout. T for violence and language.
1. Wolfert: Detroit Origins

**A/N: Hey guys, I've been on the site reading others' stories for a while and decided to give it a crack of my own so any feedback, positive or negative, is appreciated. I'll mostly be sticking to canon but as this will be an insert of an OC (that in not an SI by the way,) there will be a couple things that get shaken up. Also, I've tried my best to research and present the technical aspects of the story in terms of military ranks and having a realistic progression. However, my military experience is non-existent so any feedback from someone who actually knows about this kind of thing would be thoroughly appreciated as I want to do my best to portray something my respect for is immense as accurately as I can. **

**Last bit, I will be using guns and biotic/tech powers from ME2 and 3 from the beginning as I couldn't find anything on the dates they came into existence in ME 'verse (except for charge, which was after the L5 implants as far as I can tell) but thermal clips won't be around until 2, and with that, let's start.**

**Disclaimer: Everything is Bioware's, I don't own anything except my OC's and a couple plot ideas of my own. Also, I don't have enough cash for it to be worth the time and effort to sue me, so there's that.**

**(And I apologize in advance, some of the line breaks are a bit wonky, could not get them to cooperate for the life of me but everything will be cleared up in a few chapters, thanks!)**

**(End of A/N)**

"So, I'm not really sure how to start this…" I scratched my hair and looked at the ceiling in thought before sighing. As I returned my focus back to the center of the room, the voice recorder on my arm stared me in the face, mocking my indecision. "Doctor Chakwas said it'd be a good idea to voice my thoughts out loud. Apparently it's a good coping mechanism or something like that but now I've got absolutely no idea where to begin. And that's why I'm stuck here." I exhaled again in frustration. "This is going to drive me frickin' crazy."

Another few moments of silence passed before I found a topic. "Well, I guess I could explain why it is that I need a psych evaluation in the first place. It's been about three months since Saren, a famous Spectre gone rogue, along with an army of robots called Geth led an invasion of the Citadel. Apparently if he succeeded everyday life as we know it would've ended. The entire galaxy would've been launched into a battle that we had no hope of winning against a race of immortal machines who destroy the universe every fifty-thousand years, give or take a few. At least that's how I understood it. Whole thing's kind of above my pay grade to be honest. I just go where I'm told and shoot who they tell me to. But where was I?" Tapping my chin, I tried to regain my thought process. "Oh, right, Saren and the Reapers. Like I was saying, the turian's crew tried to take over the Citadel to speed up the hostile takeover. Would've done it too if Shepard hadn't managed to put that turian bastard six feet under along with the rest of his robot buddies."

"Everything was great for a while, award ceremonies, good press and the best part, getting free meals everywhere I went. Then two months ago it all came crashing down." I felt my face harden with the terrible memories that came with this part. "The Normandy was destroyed over Alchera by unknown enemies with tech we can't even compete with. These guys managed to split one of the most advanced ships in the galaxy like it was damn butter. I survived along with the majority of the crew. Unfortunately, Shep was among the casualties, died saving our pilot's crippled ass. Poor guy still blames himself for the whole thing. There were plenty of rumors floating around about who did it but nothing concrete and now those Council idiots are trying to play off the attack on the Geth. Plus they're trying to cover up any evidence of the existence of the Reapers. This despite the fact that there were remnants of Sovereign all over the Presidium for a while. Whole crew's a bunch of fuck-ups if you ask me, but that's a whole other story I'll have to save for next journal."

I fiddled with my omni-tool and opened up the note-taking function. "Note to self. Next time you have to make a journal entry be sure to bash the Council." Clearing my throat, I continued. "Now you might be wondering how some orphaned gang-banger from the streets wound up in the situation of defending the galaxy from genocidal, squid-looking robots. Well, to explain that I'll have to go back to the year 2176. My name is Nathaniel Wolfert and this is my story."

**LINE BREAK**

"Hey Wolf."

Turning my head, I looked at my fellow gang member, known to me only as Finch. Growing up on the streets of Detroit an orphan hadn't been easy. With a father I'd never known and a mother who'd been dead some dozen or so years in a robbery gone wrong. Life on the streets had begun at a young age for me. Sure there were foster homes that took me in here and there but I never really stayed too long. It just never felt right. Now after a long search, I finally felt like I'd found a home with the 10th Street Reds.

Fingers snapping in front of my face brought me out of my internal dialogue, "Wolf snap out of it. Today's your big day so stay focused alright? You get the privilege of meeting Curt and becoming a full-fledged member of the Reds so please try and look presentable. This affects more than just you." He spread his arms wide in an insistent gesture.

"I'll do my best, don't worry." I pulled at my jeans and red hoodie. Typical clothing for a junior Red like myself. "If we're going to meet with Curt why are we going this way though? I'm not the best with directions but I'm ninety-nine percent sure it's back the other way."

We're heading to Mr. Ramsey's place first. Apparently the boss has seen fit to give you a little gift in anticipation of your entry into the gang."

I tried to get my mind in a state of readiness to meet the head of our chapter of the gang. Curt Weisman didn't get to where he was by being a nice guy and meeting him was a necessary part of every Red's entrance into the crew. Before that happened though, we were apparently meeting up with Jack Ramsey, owner of Ramsey's Armory. Locals knew that if you needed some firepower in a tight spot, the Armory was the place to go. A veteran of the First Contact War, he was known around the city as a kind but firm man. Always willing to help out a person in need but also fully capable of forcibly extracting some unwanted guests from his business. Oh and the guy basically raised me since the day I was thirteen years old.

Swallowing nervously, I tried to make small talk. "So Finch. You're a full Red." I smiled broadly in attempt to charm my way into some info. "What'd you have to do to get in? I was trying to talk to a couple of the other guys but they wouldn't tell me a thing."

"Now you know I can't talk about that. It would ruin the surprise." Finch smirked, "You know…Curt and me we both agree you could do some good work for the Reds. First you've gotta make it through the big test though. Nobody gets special treatment around here, least of all someone who's only a junior member."

Trying one final time to fish for some info with the Red, I pleaded. "Come on Finch, just a little hint. I've put in some hard work. I think I deserve it. What is it Weisman's gonna make me do?" I started punching the air as we walked. "Please?"

"Listen Nate, I'm not gonna tell you again. Just shut your mouth and stick with me. I'm heading to Ramsey's and you're following. End of story." He gave me a friendly tap on the shoulder as he continued. "Sorry but that's just the way it is Wolf. Now let's go to Jack's and get this whole deal over with.

Finch's abrupt cut off of all conversation did absolutely nothing to ease my fears. Still, I decided to take his advice and shut my mouth. As we walked I observed our surroundings. Taking in the streets of the city that I knew so well after living on them my whole life. The walk was pretty uneventful until I gave Finch a quick nudge, seeing something I had only seen before on the omni-net.

Discreetly pointing, I asked what I thought was an innocent question. "Hey Finch, is that an asari?" I whistled appreciatively. "Wow, I have never seen an actual asari and I have to say they somehow look even better in real life."

Instantly his demeanor changed to an icy frown as he turned his head and spat in disgust. "Yeah, she's an asari," He muttered, "They should stick to the Citadel and leave Earth alone. Aliens aren't welcome here."

"What do you mean? You have a problem with them or something?" My facial expression turned into one of confusion. "I don't really get the big deal myself. We've always been fine with the asari and the fight with the turians ended a while ago. It's ancient history."

"Yeah, we're friends now but that's not gonna last. If the scaly bastards don't start something we will eventually." He turned and gave me a glare. "And by the way. I wouldn't go around voicing your flowery opinions to the rest of the guys. I like you so I'm not gonna do a thing this time but they might not take it as nicely as I do Wolf. You're gonna get yourself hurt."

"Alright I get the point. Let's just get to Jack's place. I wanna get this day over with ASAP."

After the blatant racism from Finch we walked the last few minutes to the store in an awkward silence. Arriving outside the low-key location, Finch walked in as the sound of a clanging bell announced our arrival. "I'll be out in just a minute." The gruff voice of the store owner yelled from the back.

I did a 360 as I waited, taking in the store which was covered in a mixture of Alliance posters, armor, and guns of all shapes and sizes. A few seconds later, loud footsteps from behind the counter signaled the arrival of Jack Ramsey. He held his hands out wide and a grin covered his face as he greeted us. "Finch, Nate, it's good to see you boys. Staying out of trouble I take it?"

I smiled at the brawny ex-soldier and gave an expression of fake hurt. "Of course Jack. I'm hurt very deeply that you'd suggest otherwise."

Shaking his head in exasperation Finch spoke up. "It's good to see you again Jack but me and Nate are here on business."

Turning to my companion, I spoke up. "You know, you never did mention why we were coming here."

"I said you were getting a gift so a gift it is. Mr. Ramsey," he said, pointing to the store owner, "Could you pull up your selection of side arms please?"

Opening up his omni-tool, he pulled up the pistols in his inventory as he waved me over. "Alright and here we go. Did you have any particular models in mind Nate?"

"Not really. I guess just a decent all around mix between range, firepower and heat sink size. I'll go with your choice though, you're the expert after all."

He scrolled through inventory pulling up a primarily dark grey pistol with a glossy black hand guard. "This right here is an M11. Just received it into stock in the last few weeks and it's been moving fast." He then adjusted his inventory to pull up the specs. "It's got some solid punch and a bit of recoil but I've seen you fire a weapon and I'm sure you can handle it."

He zoomed in on the front of the weapon. "The suppressor is actually integrated into the pistol itself which is a great feature as you won't have to worry about screwing one in and out. Also, you can fire approximately a half-dozen rounds before the gun overheats. Luckily for both of us Michigan is one of the few states it's legal in but most other parts of the country, well, you'd be S.O.L." He closed up the store selection and looked up at me. "So. You wanted my recommendation this is it, what do you say?"

I stroked my chin in thought. "Sounds good. You're the professional here."

He nodded in response. "Perfect. I'll even throw in a free customization with your purchase. There at the end of the counter is the customization tablet. Hold on one second and…alright, you can go ahead and mess with your color scheme down there. Let me know when you're ready and I'll go to work."

As I walked over, Finch began speaking to Jack. "The cost doesn't matter Jack. Just put it on Curt Weisman's account. He's handling everything." The Red turned towards me. "Wolf, I'm stepping outside. You got everything handled here?"

I simply gave a thumbs up and continued messing with the color scheme.

After Finch exited, Jack looked down the counter towards me. "So, you're joining the Reds officially then Wolf?" I just nodded as I continued my tweaking. "Well. You're nineteen now. You can make your own decisions but just a word of warning from someone who's lived in Detroit for a long time." His facial expression wavered as he tried to speak. The older man's mouth opened and closed multiple times before he sighed resignedly. "Look. Just…stay on your toes around this guy. Weisman's all business and if you want to stay on his good side you should treat things the same way. At least when you're around him."

Looking up from my work, I answered the ex-Marine with an expression of dead seriousness. "Thanks Jack. I appreciate the advice. I'll be careful."

"Good." His face which was previously creased with worry lightened up a bit. "On another note. Are you done with that pistol yet?"

"Yup, it's good to go."

"Alright. I'll be right back with it just hold on a sec."

I sat down in a vacant chair, occupying myself with checking my omni-tool for info about my new toy while I waited for the real thing. In just a short while he walked back out, cradling the new gun in his two large hands. I smiled as he handed it over turning it end over end to admire the raven black paint scheme with two diagonal red stripes running along the back, near the handguard.

"Jack this looks great. Didn't know you were such an artist." I grinned at the man before holding the weapon straight out from my body, pantomiming the act of aiming. When I was satisfied I turned back to the store owner. "As much as I'd love to stay and talk shop with you I'd better go. Finch is probably getting impatient."

"No problem. I'll see you later Wolf." We shook hands before I started walking to the door. "Just remember what I said about Weisman. And if you need anything I'm here for you bud."

"I appreciate the offer Jack." Peeking my head back into the store I made a final comment. "And watch out. Might have to take you up on that offer sometime soon."

I exited the building, still admiring the newly painted gun. "Well it took you long enough." Finch gave a lopsided grin to show he was only joking. "Now let's get going. We shouldn't keep the boss waiting anymore."

I started thinking over what Jack had told me. The more I deliberated the more my heart started to beat with nervousness. By the time we reached the facility, my nerves had hit the boiling point. As we approached, a tall twenty-something blonde holding a pistol came out to meet us. "Hey Finch that you?" His hand lingered on the pistol until we got within identifying distance. As his eyes lit up with recognition his posture relaxed. "Well it's about time you two made it. Better get your inside now so we can get this done with." He turned and looked in my direction, pointing a finger and thankfully not a gun at me. That would've been the last thing I needed. "You Nate Wolfert?"

Trying to appear more confident than I really felt, I swallowed deeply. "Yeah. That's me."

"Well congrats. Heard today's your big day." He leaned in a bit and spoke in a loud whisper. "Word of advice….don't fuck up. Curt doesn't tend to let failures hang around for too long." He returned to his normal posture and a jack-o-lantern like grin crossed his face. "No pressure though, right?"

"Of course not. No pressure at all." I lowered my voice to a difficult to understand muttering. "The thinly veiled threats are going right over my head."

Finch gave me a quick look as he cut in. A look that clearly meant not to say another word. "Let's just get inside and kick this off." He turned to the blonde and pointed to the run-down warehouse.

**LINE BREAK**

As our guard, Gavin, led us I glanced around the noisy warehouse, taking in the surroundings. We apidly passed through a couple open rooms to a posh, well-kept office that looked like the only nice thing in the warehouse. Behind the desk sat a dark haired, well-tanned man in his early thirties. As we entered he turned to address our tall escort. "Thank you Gavin you can leave now. I only need to speak to these two."

The tall blonde exited the room offering a mock salute. "Sure thing sir."

As he stood he offered a hand to shake. "I finally get to meet the young man who you've spoken of so highly Finch. It's a pleasure to meet you Mr. Wolfert."

As my hand fell into his vice-like grip, I tried to remember everything I knew about addressing your superiors. "No sir the pleasure is all mine. I've been hoping this day would come and it'd be an honor to become a full-fledged member of the 10th Street Reds. Just tell me what I need to do and it'll get done."

He sat back down waving his hand to indicate we should do likewise. "Respectful but to the point. I like that." A grin that was eerily reminiscent of a shark crossed his face. "Can I call you Nathan?" I simply inclined my head to indicate assent. "Well then Nathan. It is my pleasure to extend an official offer to become a Lieutenant in the Reds."

"Thank you sir. If you don't mind explaining, what would that entail exactly?"

"I'm glad you asked." He moved out of his chair and started pacing back and forth behind his desk. "You would be in charge of a couple junior members," he paused and pointed to my partner, "quite similar to Finch here. There would also be a specific area of the city that you would be tasked with overseeing. The land would be quite small at first but given time and lots of hard work I could see you rising through the ranks and being put in charge of more turf."

The predatory grin returned, leaving me more than slightly unsettled. "But first things first. Before you accept I'd like to give you a tour of our base of operations. What do you say to that?"

I turned to look at Finch and he simply nodded. "Mr. Weisman that sounds great. If you have the time I would love to take a look around."

As we exited the office, Weisman again began his monologue. The gang leader sounded as if he was a tour guide or teacher going over a historical site. "To the left is where our red sand is prepared to be sold by our individual distributors." He indicated a large room where groups of young men and women were boxing and bagging large quantities of a fine, powdery red substance. As we resumed the circuit we came into another room with racks of armor and weapons of all shapes and sizes. "This, as you have probably guessed, is the armory. If we have to deal with a…" He paused, as if searching for the right word, "disagreement, then this is the first place we go to for preparation."

As we slowly strolled through the base of operations Weisman pointed out the jobs that were done at different spaces in the warehouse. Almost every single one of them was illegal, it was just a matter of how high on the scale they went. Finally we reached a neglected looking part of the warehouse where the older man paused. "So Nathan. What do you think now that you've seen the base of my empire?"

"Very impressive sir. I can't wait to begin." Swallowing loudly, I tried to muster up the courage to ask the question that had been plaguing me. "If it's not improper to ask sir. Finch has been telling me there's a test I have to go through first before anything happens. When will I know what mine is?"

He turned, indicating a door. "The first portion is right through here Mr. Wolfert. If you're ready we can begin anytime."

I tried to banish the fear that was hanging over me. "Let's do it then."

Opening the door revealed a flight of stairs leading down into the lower levels of the facility. Almost instantly, a wave of heat rolled over me. As we walked further into the under bowels the intensity only increased until it reached an almost suffocating level. When we finally stopped descending I did a full rotation. Taking in the blazing furnaces littering the room in a haphazard way in all their roaring glory.

"The first test will be dual purpose as it will test your strength and at the same time announce to the world your membership in the Reds." He turned to Finch. "Please prepare everything while we talk here. I'm rather short on time so we need to start the process."

As Finch walked away he continued. "Now as I'm sure you're aware, a business like mine doesn't reach this state of success without making a few enemies along the way. I need to make sure you're capable of dealing with the ramifications of what would happen if you would fall into the hands of our enemies."

I nodded. "Of course sir. I've had my fair share of run-ins with some boys from other gangs and I can hold my own. With the Reds now backing me up too I don't think there's anything I can't handle with help like that."

"That's good. I admire your confidence but you have to understand that mistakes are sometimes made. And when you're in a war that means there will be casualties."

At that point Finch interrupted. "Everything's ready if you guys wanna follow me. It's right over this way."

Further and further into the basement we walked, the heat still ever present. Leaning over I gave Finch a little nudge on the shoulder. "You know you've been really quiet this whole time. Is everything ok?"

"Yeah. I'm doing fine." He exhaled sharply before turning towards me. "Listen. This next bit is gonna be a real bitch but I'll get you through it just," he sighed again, "listen to me alright? Whatever I tell you, however strange, just do it. No questions asked. You do trust me right?" As I shook my head he continued. "Good. We're right about there now so be ready and we'll get this shit over and done with. It'll be just a memory in a few days Wolf."

As we arrived at our location Weisman spoke up. "Grab the rope and towel. I'll handle the other instrument on my own." They both walked in separate directions, leaving me to ponder my fate. What's making Finch so nervous? I've never seen him act this way before and it's doing absolutely nothing to help my nerves. Usually he's a pretty laidback guy but this whole test thing must have him on edge.

As he came back with the rope and towel Finch led me over to a single metal bar hanging from the wall. "Alright Nate. Take your shirt off and put your arms straight up over your head."

"What the h-"

"Hey!" He cut off my exclamation at the head. "Just remember you agreed. We'll get this done but just trust me," he mumbled something that I just barely heard, "for a bit longer at least."

Doing what he said. I laid my hoodie and t-shirt off to the side and stretched my arms vertically. Not wasting any time, he looped the rope around both arms at the wrists, lashing them to the metal bar. At that point Weisman walked back with a red hot metal brand in his lowered right hand. "Are you ready Mr. Wolfert?" I nodded. "Give him the towel Finch."

"What will I need that for?"

Finch answered as he walked over with the item, his head lowered to the ground. "It's so you won't bite your tongue off." Inserting it carefully into my mouth he looked at the Red leader befpre signaling him to begin. As he closed in with the burning metal I bit harder into the towel and the rough material crushed between my teeth.

When it touched there was no feeling for a moment. Then the worst pain I'd felt in my entire life hit. My muffled screams rang through the basement. The echo answering with only more shrieks. As the smell of burnt skin wafted into my nostrils I blacked out.

**LINE BREAK**

"Hey wake up." A voice pierced through the foggy state I was in, causing me to look around the room. "Wolf are you up yet? Can you hear me?"

As I tried to sit up, a burning pain went through my chest and I hissed in pain. At that moment the memories of what had happened came flooding back and I looked down. The skin around my right pectoral was puffy. An angry-looking sort of red which was raised in the shape of the numeral ten. Finch looked at me and rolled up his sleeve showing a similar mark on his bicep. "Hey look. We match now." With a tight smirk and a humorless chuckle, he continued. "You should be feeling brutally sore but you'll be fine in a couple of days. Curt said not to but I snuck you some omni-gel and slapped it on there. It'll help out with the swelling and pain." He scratched his shaggy hair and an almost sorrowful look was on his face. "I'm sorry I couldn't tell you more back there but thanks for trusting me."

I tried to get back up, grimacing from the pain the movement induced. "You're my friend Finch. I knew you wouldn't let anything happen that I couldn't handle." I made a facial expression that was an odd mixture of half-smile, half-grimace of pain. "Thanks for the omni-gel by the way, I really appreciate it."

"No problem buddy. That's what friends are for right?" He sat up from the chair he was in, motioning for me to follow. "As much as I'd love to let you lie down and heal up for a bit we gotta go. The boss wants this second part of the test done. He told me to bring you to the back room as soon as you woke up. This second part should be a cakewalk though. You didn't chicken out with the brand so I this won't faze you a bit I think."

I quickly walked to the door, opening it to reveal a room that was empty for the most part. The only objects were a large metal table, two chairs and something in the corner of the room that I couldn't make out yet due to the poor lighting. As Weisman re-joined us I turned to the pair of men, tilting my head in confusion.

"Your test is in here Nate."

Confused, I turned back again. "Finch is correct Mr. Wolfert."

Shrugging my shoulders, I walked into the room as the two followed. I sat in the metal chair and waited as they brought the, "something," over. To my utter shock, they picked it up and stood it on two legs. Holding an arm each they sat the thing down in the chair before removing the sack from his head.

For the second time that day, something I had never before seen in person was right in front of my face. A turian.

The leader of the Reds turned to me, smirk on his face as he spread his arms wide. "Well Mr. Wolfert. Meet your second test."

**(This is the first of probably six or seven chapters that I'm in the process of rewriting. No real changes in terms of plot happenings, the only difference is a clean-up of the dialogue and descriptions.)**

**A/N: Sorry! I hate to end the first chapter on a cliffhanger but this was the best stopping point I felt like.**

**Any review/advice is much appreciated, my only request (especially if it's negative) is to please be as specific as possible, been working on this story for a while now and I finally feel like I have enough of a backlog to start posting so here it is. I've written through part 26 as of today and the chapters are averaging just over 5,000 words each which was right about where I wanted them to be but we'll see how long that goes for. And right now I'm almost into the year 2179 so it'll be a long while before we get into ME1 territory but I'm steadily working towards it.**

**Since I work full-time in addition to going to college also, I don't have much free time to write but I will be posting every Friday/Saturday as long as I have access to a computer. Hopefully I can keep up with that pace and there will be a steady flow of below-average writing coming to you, the reader. That's about it for now so I think I'll wrap it up. See you guys next week!**


	2. Big Trouble in Little Detroit

"I…I don't understand." I hesitated. "What the hell's going on? Finch, what is this?"

"This is your test Nate. We need to make sure you're dedicated to the Reds and willing to do whatever it takes to get the job done. I like you and I think you can get it done but you're a bit of a softie still. That comes back to bite you in our line of work. It's for the best."

"For the best?" I practically screamed. Pointing at the kneeling turian and scowling angrily the whole time, I kept talking. "But why him. What did he do? Did you seriously get some random turian off the street for the sole purpose of my initiation? I've done some messed up things in my life but this is sick."

Weisman cut my rant short. "What he did is irrelevant Mr. Wolfert. What matters is that I am ordering you to do this. Besides, it's not as if he was a human. Killing alien scum like this should be considered a privilege."

"Finch do you agree with this bullshit?" He looked at his feet and remained quiet. "It's really great to see that racism is still going strong after all this time. You guys should be really proud of yourselves." I paused for a second. "You can carry out your own xenophobic crimes. If this is how you feel I don't want any part of the Reds. I'm out."

Mr. Weisman cut in. "It's much too late for that now Mr. Wolfert." He paused for a moment and his voice took on a threateningly velvety tone. "You know. It would be a shame for you to come so far and fail now at the very end. And right when you have success in the palm of your hand too. Just think about it. You have the offer of becoming a lieutenant in the Reds with members that you've recruited, each and every one of them looking up to you. Now you're letting it slip through your hands like running water." His voice took on a more persuasive, firmer tone. "But you can still do your job and take your place in my empire. I'll give you one more chance. There will not be a second one."

"Nate. Please buddy just listen to him. Don't make us do this." Finch pleaded as his face took on a pained expression.

I sighed as I thought through my options. Obviously if I didn't kill this poor bastard my forecast for the future was not looking too bright in terms of actually making it out alive and in one piece. They were probably gonna kill the guy even if I didn't do it so it wouldn't matter in the long run anyway. My hand brushed against something metallic and as I looked down I realized my new pistol was tucked into my belt. A plan was now starting to formulate in my head. Trying to appear resigned, I looked up at the pair. "I've reconsidered my position. Just give me a second to get ready. I've never killed someone before."

"I'm glad you could see reason Nathan. I didn't take you for a foolish man. You still have your pistol on you I'm assuming?"

Nodding my head I replied as I walked over to the turian. "Yup, it's right here." I pulled out the M11 as I walked over. The prisoner looked up to meet his fate head-on and I whispered. "When I tell you to, get up and be ready to book it. We're getting out of this hellhole."

Shocked, he looked up at me and started whispering in a questioningly flanging tone of voice. "What are you talking about human? There's no way out. Even if we got past these two the whole building would be on alert. Besides I don't trust you anyway. Why would I?"

"You don't have a choice. Now I'm getting out of here. You with me?"

As he indicated in the affirmative I turned to the two Reds with a downcast expression due to what I was going to have to do to a friend. Granted, he was one with messed up moral values, but he was still a friend. "Sorry Finch." I muttered to myself before I whirled around.

I aimed and fired at the lower bodies of the two men, hitting both Weisman and Finch in the legs with multiple bullets. I turned to look at my fellow escapee as they dropped to the floor holding their wounded legs while screaming in pain. "Let's go! We're getting the hell out of here!" I paused next to Finch as I ran. "I'm sorry Finch. You were my friend for a long time and I wish you the best. Don't come after me."

Following up on those words, I swiftly pistol whipped both of them while they were writhing in pain from the gunshot wound. Not hard enough to kill but enough to render both of them unconscious. If everything went according to plan we'd be long gone by the time they woke up.

As we ran toward the door the turian paused for just a moment to kick Weisman in the side before spitting. "Racist bastard."

"No time for that. We have to get out of here before the whole frickin' warehouse is looking for us."

"Fine but can you get me out of these ropes at least?"

I paused and considered for a moment, trying to weigh the pros and cons. "No…I think we're gonna wait. Those ropes will help us get out of here I think. Just follow my lead alright? I'll get you out of here in one piece if it kills me."

We raced back through the boiler room and up the staircase, not meeting anyone yet luckily. Before we hit the stairs I skidded to a stop, my escapee smashing into my back in his impaired state. "What are we doing? Why are we stopped?"

"This is gonna help us out a bit." I turned and pushed a few buttons on a holographic display that set off the fire alarm. Almost instantly loud sirens went off all through the building and the sound of running feet could be heard upstairs. As we raced up the stairs to the main level the door opened and before they could talk I interrupted. "Hurry up! Something went wrong in the basement and one of the boilers exploded! Curt and Finch got hurt really badly. We need somebody to help them out, go grab a doctor or something!" I yelled, trying to sound as frantic and panicked as possible.

"Okay, but what are you doing?"

"Curt told me to take this guy outside. He's too valuable so I gotta get the hell out of here." At his hesitance to move I purposefully ramped up the sense of panic and urgency in my voice. "Why are you still here, what the hell are you doing? Grab somebody before they bleed out or Curt's gonna have your head on a damn platter!"

As the worker left I turned to my comrade who looked just as shocked as I was that my ploy actually worked. "I guess if you yell loud enough people start listening. Now let's keep going, just stick with me and don't say a word unless I tell you alright?" He nodded and we resumed our frantic escape of the base rushing past the guards stationed outside who looked up in alarm, raising their pistols.

"Stop or we'll shoot! I'm not warning you again, stop!"

I looked at my partner and pulled out my pistol, firing over my shoulder wildly as we ran. "Keep going, we can't stop now!" When they realized that due to my running they weren't really in danger of being hit themselves, they began to return fire with their pistols as we escaped the compound. The hissing sound of bullets flew past us as we ran and turned the corner to relative safety. I took the most random path possible in order to lose our pursuers. When the sound of running footsteps could no longer be heard I eased up in order to catch my breath.

I laughed as we walked. The adrenaline from the chase was still in full effect and it was definitely making me react. "Holy shit." I took a few ragged breaths. "Can't believe that actually worked." I turned to look at my temporary partner. "Let's get those ropes off. We should have a few seconds here." As I approached the alien I was able to see blue blood dripping from his arm. "You got shot! Why didn't you say something?"

"I'm fine. We needed to get out of there and announcing I'd been shot would've only been a distraction." He hissed in pain as he looked at his right arm. "It's just in the shoulder but this could turn into some trouble if we don't have a place to go." He sighed. "I don't like the idea of being in debt to some random human but thank you for helping me back there. I haven't met too many people who would do the same in your situation and if you could help me out this one more time I'd be extremely grateful. Now could you please untie these ropes?"

"Of course. Just hold on a second." I began to talk again while I undid the cords holding his hands. "I couldn't just shoot you in cold blood like that you know. You must have got a really bad impression of humans but in general, people are actually kind of alright and not racist pricks. Next thing we gotta do though is get you some medical attention. Hospitals are a no-go unfortunately. They tend to ask questions when you come in with gunshot wounds. Besides, Weisman has contacts all over this town and a human checking a turian into the hospital would raise a few red flags."

I paused for a moment trying to plan our next move. Now that we were free from the Reds the fog in my mind was starting to clear up a bit. An idea popped into my head and I smiled. "I think I know just the place. By the way, my name's Nathaniel Wolfert, but you can call me Nate or even Wolf. Either one's fine, doesn't really matter that much. I would shake your hand but," I pointed to his shoulder, "you know."

He grimaced in pain. "You're too kind. I'm Daxyrus Lenril."

"Can I call you Dax?"

Sighing, he continued. "If you must. Can we get going now?"

**LINE BREAK**

"Jack! Jack Ramsey, are you here?"

"That you Nate? Just take a seat at the counter I'll be out in a minute." Clanging was heard from the back room of the store as the proprietor worked. A couple minutes later, he walked out wiping his hands with a towel. "Sorry about that. Iad to finish up maintenance on a few new rifles and sets of armor we got in this week. Now what can I do for you gentlemen?"

"Hey Jack, this is my…friend…Dax." I paused considering my words carefully. "Y'see I had a kind of important question and seeing how you're the only adult I really trust too much I figured I'd come to you for advice." I paused to take a breath and he waited in silence for me to tell my story. "Well, hypothetically, I have this friend ok. He might have got into some trouble with a local gang called, well let's just say the 10th Street Reds just to have a specific one. Anyway, he might be on the run from them now with a turian. Oh and he also might be shot on sight if he runs across one of them on the streets now. And this friend's name is me."

"Dammit Nate, I told you those guys were up to no good." He looked over to Dax. "And to top it all off you got your, "friend," shot. Come over here I've got some medical equipment I keep in the back." We turned into the store, trailing Jack as he grabbed equipment off the walls while he walked. Eventually we reached the back of the store and he stopped. Setting down the medical supplies, he started to move some boxes.

"Uhhh Jack what are you doing? Weren't you gonna fix up my Dax here? I don't mean to be a pain but he did get shot and now might not be the best time to move inventory."

Jack turned around to face us. "Nate could you stop being a smart ass for ten seconds and help me out with these boxes?"

"Considering the circumstances sure..." I shrugged and started moving the surprisingly light boxes. "What the hell? These things are empty."

As we moved the last box out of the way Jack moved a false tile, a small ring appeared that he then pulled to expose a ladder going down into darkness. "Let's go guys. If people see me operating on some random turian in my store they'll start asking questions and we can't have that." He flipped a switch to turn on the light, revealing a very spartan room with nothing but an extremely valuable looking armor set, along with a few weapons and a long metal table. He pointed to Dax. "Lay down on the table and I'll get to work."

Dax spoke up at this point. "Where did you learn how to treat a bullet wound? I tend not to let random people operate on me without questions as much as I appreciate the offer."

"I was in the Alliance military for about a dozen years and rose to a rather high rank. I also fought in the First Conflict War, or Relay 314 incident, whichever you'd like to call it. Dressing a bullet wound was a necessary part of the training I went through and believe me they drill it into your head so you'll never forget it. Now let me look at your shoulder." Dax nodded and hopped up on the table. "Nate take these and cut out the fabric around his upper body." He said handing me a pair of heavy-duty scissors.

"Hey Dax let me know if it's too much and I'll stop but I'm gonna try and remove it all in one go. You ready?"

"Let's get this over with."

I took the scissors to the fabric and began making an incision along his right arm cutting up towards the shoulder. He grimaced in pain but didn't make any audible sounds so I continued the operation. As I finished the cut around the wound I began to remove it from the shoulder. However by this point the blood had almost sealed it to his shoulder making it like ripping off a large scab but on a whole other level.

"This is gonna hurt like a bitch." Muttering, I turned towards my fellow impromptu medic. "You ready over there Jack I'm gonna remove the last piece here."

"Yeah I've got the medi-gel so get ready to rip it off and then I'll apply it after I look over the wound."

I pulled at the bloody shirt, ripping off the piece in one go as the sound of a cursing turian filled the room. With the wound now open a flow of blue blood had started pouring from the wound again. "Shit, shit shit, spirits-damned son of a bitch that hurt." Dax took a deep breath. "Mr. Ramsey we're clear over here."

He walked over, examining the wound from both sides for a bit before he stepped back and stroked his bearded chin. "You're lucky. That bullet went straight through as far as I can tell. I'm gonna seal it up with medi-gel and give you some anesthetics. Your shoulder will be sore as hell for a few weeks but you'll be fine, no permanent damage." He opened up his omni-tool and spread the substance all over the wounded region. "All right here's the painkillers so just lie down and rest up for a bit. I'll check up on you in a few minutes alright?"

"Thank you. I appreciate the effort in helping me out. Maybe my first impression of humans was a bit off." He started slurring his words as his eyelids simultaneously started to droop. "I'm just gonna…lie down for a bit. Close my eyes. After that I'll get back up and out of here…head home."

"What's happening? Why's he closing his eyes, I thought you said it wasn't a big deal!" Getting more frantic by the moment I turned towards Mr. Ramsey. I just saved him and now he was going to die despite everything I tried.

He grabbed me by the shoulders and looked at me, trying to settle me down. "Hey hey, Nathan relax, he's fine. I just put a sedative into the medi-gel to let him get some sleep. Never in a thousand years would he have let himself fall asleep in front of strangers like that. Turians are a very proud race in general and it would have hurt his pride far too much to show weakness. You saw how he reacted to the bullet as little as possible until the very end when he just couldn't hold it together anymore."

I started to calm down a bit. "Oh ok. Sorry for freaking out then. I was just worried about the guy and probably a little stressed too."

"Hey it's alright. Sounds like you've had a crazy day. Now you wanna tell me just what the hell happened back there with the Reds that's got you on the run? Last thing I knew you were ready to join and now you're here, hiding out in my secret room with a wounded turian?"

**LINE BREAK**

"…then they branded me with this." I lifted up the shirt to show the, "10," that had been branded onto my chest. "Which by the way is starting to hurt like hell again. Now that the adrenaline has worn off, some painkillers would be nice. After that they led me into a room and told me my last test was to shoot Dax. Obviously I didn't do that since he's laying over there on the table passed out. Weisman started to vaguely threaten me saying if I didn't do the job some unfortunate stuff would happen. I delayed 'em as long as I could, then decided the best course of action was to shoot their legs and get out of that pit. After some close calls I managed to get us out of there mostly intact and now we're here." I took on a downcast expression and somber tone of voice. "Finch was one of the guys I shot though. He was with me the whole time. I didn't know what else to do."

He paused for a long moment, thinking over everything that had happened. "I'm proud of you Nate. It took some guts to pull something like that and do what's right while still knowing the consequences. It would've been easier to just shoot him and go along with it but I'm happy you stuck to your guns, literally." He smiled for a moment. "And I'm sorry about Finch, I know you looked up to him a lot. It must've been tough under peer pressure like that not to give in."

I looked down at my feet and shuffled a bit. "Yeah I don't really like thinking about that part. I hope he's ok. Didn't want to kill him or anything like that but I had to get us out of there and that was the only way I could think of on short notice like that. He was really my only friend if you could call a fellow gang member that and now if I see him again he'll be on orders to kill me on sight." I sighed and looked up. "Did I do the right thing Mr. Ramsey? It sure as hell doesn't feel like it right now."

He ruffled my black hair as he stood up. "Yeah. You did good kid." He looked away for a moment before returning back to me. "You should get some rest. The Reds'll be looking all over tonight but you'll be fine here. Tomorrow we'll talk about what we want to do. Goodnight Nate."

"Goodnight Mr. Ramsey. And thanks…for everything."

He just smiled and nodded as he walked up the ladder before turning out the light, putting me and Daxyrus into complete darkness.

**A/N: So, second week means second chapter. Huge thanks to everybody who read, followed, liked and commented on my first chapter. It means a ton to see what people think of my little project. Oh, and as long as I'm not swamped I'll try to answer each and every review in the A/N sections so if you have anything you're curious about, story-related or not, ask away!**

**Alright, here's the second chapter that I've gone back and done some editing too. Once again, no major changes. Just some dialogue and pacing tweaks.**

_**SoMuchGerry: **_**Thanks for the kind words and review! I don't know what in this story will be considered, "prologue," so I can't speak for sure on how long it will be but if by that term you mean pre ME1 stuff then yes, it will be a little bit longer of a prologue. Sorry if that turns you off from reading it. The action is definitely going to ramp up after the first few chapters though so hopefully if my writing keeps improving I'll be able to keep your attention with that **

_**DavidJ647: **_**Again, thanks so much for the kindness. I've definitely got a strong idea of where I'm taking it and have most everything mapped out in terms of what I want to do through at least the intermission between one and two so I hope you have as much fun reading it as I've had writing it. Well, most of the time, writer's block strikes my brain occasionally and then it's a huge strugglefest.**


	3. Interview with a Legend

The sound of an alarm jolted me out of my slumber. I turned to slap the snooze function on my omni-tool as a rough voice could be heard yelling from upstairs. "Nate, you going to sleep all day? C'mon I need you to wake up. We've got some things to discuss about your plans going forward."

"Ten minutes." I groaned and rolled over, smothering my head with the covers for a brief moment before something stopped me. Pausing for a moment, the wafting smell of breakfast cooking upstairs quickly jolted me out of my sleep-induced stupor. Throwing a shirt over my head, I rushed up the ladder leading out of the hidden room and through the store. Another set of stairs on my right led me to the portion of the building where Jack Ramsey spent the hours he wasn't working. At the kitchen table Dax was seated, waiting patiently at the table while the other occupant of the room cooked over stove top.

He turned away from his cooking for a moment and looked over his shoulder, noting my hurried entrance into the room. "I figured that would get you upstairs pretty fast. Go ahead and Sit down. Food'll be ready in ten so I hope you're hungry. And don't worry Dax I made a run to the store this morning to pick up some dextro food for you. Even though I had to go to three different stores to find it."

I turned towards the turian. "So Len, how you feeling? Your shoulder feeling any better with a night's rest?" I moved mine around, rotating it in an effort to loosen it up a bit. "Mine is still sore as hell and I wasn't even shot."

"Another nickname? I don't think my name is that difficult to pronounce is it?"

I grinned. "Nah, but your name is just so easy to make nicknames off of I can't help myself."

Sighing, he returned to the conversation. "Fine, but to answer your question the shoulder is much improved. The medi-gel worked really well but it's still sore and I accidentally touched it this morning and the pain was almost unbearable. I won't be able to do much with it for a few weeks I think."

At that point Jack came over carrying trays of scrambled eggs, bacon, pancakes and some other food I had never seen before in my life. Setting the food down on the table he took a seat. "Dig in while the food is still hot." He pointed to the unknown food. "This is all yours Daxyrus, eat up."

Mouth full of food, I pointed towards the unknown substance that had been given to Dax. "What's that? I've never even seen anything like that. You mind if I try a bite? It looks interesting."

Dax chuckled a little bit. "I don't mind but your body might not agree with you afterwards. Best case you're vomiting it all up and have a severe allergic reaction. Worst case you're dead. So if you have any sense of self-preservation I would strongly advise against it."

"Nate, weren't you listening at all when I was just talking about picking up dextro food? That was literally two minutes ago. Just in one ear and out the other huh?" He raised his hands palm-up above his shoulders in bewilderment.

I rubbed my black hair as I turned a shade of light red in embarrassment. "I was distracted by the food? Kinda zoned out there. So note to self. Turian food is bad and might cause death. Do not eat it even if someone dares you."

"Very good. You're a quick learner I can see." The turian equivalent of a smirk crossed his features. "I can also tell you that getting shot is bad. I highly recommend avoiding it if at all possible."

"Hey it's not my fault the ex-Marine over here," I pointed over to Jack, "taught me more about shooting a pistol than what to eat and not to eat. Most of the time as long as it looks good it's fine so I don't worry about it."

"What about your parents? Or your schooling, didn't they teach you about alien culture wherever it was that you attended."

I sat back, pushing away my plate. "Well mom's dead and dad might as well be, never even met the guy. She said he took off once she became pregnant and I haven't heard a damn thing. Don't know if he's dead, strung out on sand, or actually made something of himself and frankly I don't give a shit either way. Jack's the only parental figure I've got. And as much as I like to poke fun at him every once in a while for being an old crusty geezer he's not too bad. Even lets me man the counter and perform maintenance on the weapons every now and then."

He looked up from his food. "Nate you do know I'm still in my forties right?"

"Exactly. You're old as shit." I coughed. "All interruptions aside. I was actually complimenting you for once. And as for the school part, the various assortment of foster parents I had growing up usually made me go but once I reached about fifteen I started ditching class and hanging out in the streets even more than I was before. That's how I fell in with Finch."

Len nodded in understanding. "But how did you two wind up that close? Obviously Mr. Ramsey here isn't really the foster parent type I assume so what happened?"

Mr. Ramsey started laughing loudly as I looked down in embarrassment for a second time in a short period. "I uh, think you should handle this one Mr. Ramsey I'm gonna take a walk or something."

"Fine Nate. Well anyway, I'm just running my store one day and this kid who's obviously got something tucked under his coat starts walking toward the exit. And I shit you not he's literally whistling nonchalantly as he leaves. So obviously I stop the teenager and pull the pistol he's trying to steal out of the jacket. He's freaking out the whole time, telling me not to tell the foster home and just about on the verge of breaking down into tears."

"I was not about to cry! Dax he's making that up, don't listen to him."

"Now who's interrupting? Anyway, like I was saying. He tries stealing the pistol so I ask him what the hell he's doing and if he even knows how to shoot the thing. Of course Wolf here says no. Then I actually offered to teach him which was about the last thing he expected. After that he started coming by every couple days to learn firearms and just hang out. He started telling me about his past and eventually I kinda just took the little guy under my wing. And that's the story."

I smiled at the recollections. "Yup. Then I fell in with Finch and started running with the 10th Street Reds as a junior member. I got branded, ran into you, shot some guys in the leg, you got shot in the escape and now we're hiding out so we don't get shot again." Pausing for a moment I directed a question towards the turian. "What about you Len? Now that you know my life story, what got you into this situation?"

"I uhhh ran into some trouble back on Palaven." He coughed nervously as he continued. "I was in a bad place. I needed to get out of there and get some space so I came to Earth. Hope you don't mind but I really would prefer not to talk about it. It's still a sore spot."

Jack turned towards Dax to address him. "That's fine Dax. No one's forcing you to talk about anything if you don't want to." He turned towards me, putting on a serious face. "What we do need to talk about though is where you two are gonna go to, especially you Nate. A lot of people would recognize you out on the streets and as much as I'd love to keep you here to protect you eventually you'd be found out by somebody. Weisman can hold a grudge and I don't think that smug bastard is going to let you get away with shooting him in the leg that easily. You need to leave town, at least for a while. I have an idea but I wanna hear what you think first."

I paused, contemplating everything in my head before speaking. "Honestly Jack I just don't know. Obviously I can't stay in Detroit anymore but this is the only thing I've known my entire life. I don't really feel like just heading to another city and wandering the streets again. I wanna do something worthwhile for once. Gang life was kind of a big game to me when it was just me and Finch running things together but then I met the boss, saw the operations and realized how wrong it was. What I was doing was hurting innocent people, no one was killed or anything like that but I'm guilty by associating with them so I might as well have pulled the trigger. I'm just sad I couldn't see it before things went south. Leaving the only family I've ever had behind is gonna be really hard and I know it needs to be done but that doesn't make things any easier. If you guys don't mind I'm gonna head back downstairs for a bit to think things through." I stood up and put away my plate in the sink. "Thanks for breakfast Jack. I'll be back up to talk about it in a bit but I just need some time ok?"

He put his hand on my shoulder. "Sure thing Nate, just don't make it too long. I couldn't live with myself if I let something happen to you that I could've prevented. The Reds will figure out what happened sooner or later and you should be far away by the time that happens."

A week and a half passed by after the incident with the days all being very much the same. In the mornings and evenings while the store was closed we all hung out in the furnished portion of the building. When the store was running the two of us headed down to the hidden room and just talked until closing time. Much of my time was spent thinking about what it was that I was going to do now that I couldn't stay in Detroit. Nothing came to mind until something happened that would forever change my path.

**LINE BREAK**

The store was just about ready to open so I headed back down to the hidden room, bringing up my omni-tool. The bright orange display sprung to life showing the main screen with today's breaking news. As I surfed through, nothing particularly caught my attention until a certain headline popped up on the Alliance News Network. "Elysium attacked by Batarian raiders. Lt. Caleb Shepard to be awarded for outstanding heroics." Opening the link, a black-haired news reporter interviewing a tall man in his young twenties sporting the Alliance Marine dress uniform and a tight blonde buzz cut began.

"2nd Lt. Shepard thank you for your time. After everything that happened I appreciate you taking some time out of your busy schedule to relay your story to the people."

"It's no problem at all ma'am. The public has the right to know what happened here at Elysium these last few days and my commanding officers were kind enough to give me a short break so we could talk."

She began flipping through her notes and once she had settled cleared her throat to ask the first question. "Now Lt.-"

The soldier cut in. "Please, just call me Caleb."

She smiled back. "Ok, now Caleb, from my understanding you weren't there on Elysium in official Alliance capacity but were there for shore leave is that correct?"

"Yes ma'am it is. I was in the middle of taking my ten-day military leave there when the attack began."

"And you still decided to pitch in even though nothing was expected of you and you could have just hidden and no one would have blamed you." She cocked her head to the side quizzically. "Why is that?"

"Well I feel like people who have the capacity to act have the responsibility to act in those kinds of situations ma'am. As one of the few people there with military experience, I took it upon myself to organize a defense and I think we did a fairly good job of that considering the unfortunate circumstances we were thrust into. I just wish I could have saved more."

She began to scroll through the notes she had taken on the omni-tool. "I'm sure the men and women you saved appreciate that thought but are plenty thankful that it was you organizing it and nobody else. Now from what I've heard of the events, you almost single-handedly gathered up the able-bodied men and women in the area, doled out weapons to all of them before manning the perimeter for fourteen hours straight. All the while, making sure that the border you had established held and organizing shifts of combat so they were constantly manned." Holy shit, this guy managed to not only organize a resistance but arm them and then make an effective defense. "One eyewitness noted that several times when the slavers breached your defenses you pushed them back and re-fortified with no weapons but your barrier, biotics and fists, is that true?"

"Well, he might have exaggerated a bit." He actually began to get a little red in the face from the praise he was receiving. "I had lots of help re-taking the barricades when they were penetrated but yes I decided that since I've been blessed with biotics that I've worked hard to hone since then, I let the others there take whatever weapons and armor we managed to scrounge up on such short order. The Alliance fatigues I was wearing were all I needed."

The news reporter looked flabbergasted. "You mean you fought for fourteen straight hours completely unarmed."

"Yes ma'am. That's correct in a matter of speaking, however I never consider myself unarmed. I have my biotics and military training so I'd like to think I'm never helpless in a fight."

"I see. Still, to hold that position and sacrifice firearms so other men could take them is selfless on your part. I understand that you've been awarded with the Star of Terra, the Alliance's highest award. In addition to that you're being given such nicknames as "The Lion of Elysium," and they're comparing your stand to the famous three-hundred Spartans that withheld the legions of Persia, except you managed to survive."

"I'm just doing what any other soldier would have done in my situation ma'am. Obviously I'm honored by the accolades they're giving to me but the ones who truly deserve that are the Marines and civilians, aliens and humans alike, who took up arms with me. They gave their lives to repel the slavers that threatened our beautiful colony of Elysium from the slaver scum who would kidnap and do harm to our people."

The newscaster smiled warmly. "Very well said Caleb. Now I'm getting a lot of messages of thanks from Elysium natives whose lives you saved and also a few questions. If you don't mind I would like to read a few of them if you have the time and are willing?"

He nodded. "Sure. I'm in no rush so ahead with the questions. I'll answer to the best of my ability but there are a few things I'm not allowed to talk about however. I'm sure you understand."

"Of course. Now hold on one moment and I'll have the first one here." She fidgeted with her omni-tool again, the neon display springing from her wrist, as she asked the first question. "Ok, now the first question is from Matt in London. He asks if the Alliance plans to retaliate because of the slaver raid on the innocents here and also what steps are being taken to prevent such a thing from happening again?"

"Well I'm not in a position to know what exactly is being done. I'm still just a Marine grunt and that's more of an issue for the big brass but what I can say is that the leaders of the Alliance will do whatever it takes to protect our people. If that means a punitive strike then that's what will be done I'm sure. I can also tell you that if we find the men responsible for this damage that has been done today and the lives lost. We will end them, quickly."

The reporter took on a less serious expression and began grinning. "Alright, on a light hearted note this is from Jennifer in Southern California. She simply asks if you're single and planning on being in the area anytime soon."

The blonde Alliance Lieutenant who had faced down a horde of angry slavers weaponless now began to turn red once again in embarrassment. "Well in answer to the first one yes, I am currently single. And to the second one I couldn't really say right now, but if I'm ever on leave in the area I'll let you know."

"This comes from Mitchell W. on Terra Nova. He's wondering how many Batarians you would estimate you defended your position from over the course of the day."

Stroking his bare chin in though Shepard paused for a moment. "That's tough. I really wasn't keeping track too much since I had some other things on my mind, which I'm sure you understand." He flashed a weary but still jovial grin that lit up the screen. "If I had to guess then the total would probably be almost a thousand."

"A female admirer in Australia sent this in…" Now it was the interviewer's turn to get red from embarrassment as she smiled nervously. "Oh, ummm hold on a second. I don't think I can read this on the air so I guess that will conclude our interview with 2nd Lieutenant Caleb Shepard, The Lion of Elysium. Thank you for everything, and I wish you the best of luck in your Alliance service."

"Anytime. I'm glad I could do my part in protecting the people of the Skyllian Verge and I will continue to do my part as long as I'm still able to stand on my own two feet."

I closed my omni-tool as the interview ended, remaining seated on the cot set up in haste and thinking about the interview with the powerfully built soldier. As a new idea in terms of my future began rattling around in my brain a knock on the door interrupted my musings. "Yeah come in."

A three fingered, or clawed if you will, hand was seen opening the door and Dax began walking towards me before he sat down on the cot directly opposite me. "Nate, you have a few seconds to talk?"

"Sure, go ahead Daxy. What's on your mind?" He sighed at the moniker.

"Alright. Now if I'm overstepping my bounds just cut me off but I have to say this because I don't know when Jack will. I've only known you for a couple weeks so far and while that isn't a long time, it's been long enough for me to tell that you're a decent guy. Now I don't know why you were trying to join the Reds and frankly I don't give a crap. When a tough decision had to be made you did the right thing. What I really wanted to say though is that you need to get out of here before something bad happens and Jack cares about you too much to push you into it. This is something you need to figure out on your own. What are you going to do?"

"Y'know Lennie…it's funny you should say that." He sighed at another new nickname I had found for him. "If you came and asked me ten minutes ago I would say I have no idea but now I think I've got an idea. I just saw this interview with an Alliance Lieutenant who had single-handedly fought off an invasion of Batarian slavers and saved hundreds, maybe even thousands of people from being forced into slavery. The guy's a hero galaxy-wide and even got a great nickname, 'The Lion of Elysium.' I mean come on how bad ass can one guy get. Plus he got a tan of fan mail from chicks everywhere so you get to throw that benefit in too."

"Not exactly the best reasons but the idea itself isn't too bad. I was in the turian military when I was young and it takes a lot of hard work and discipline to excel but I think you've got it in you. If this is what you want let's go upstairs and tell him." We left the small room, heading upstairs and back into the residential portion of the building where Mr. Ramsey was sitting on the couch waiting, coffee in hand which he was sipping from occasionally.

"Hey Jack, I want to join the Alliance."

**A/N: So. Kind of slow and short chapter here, sorry for that. It'll be mostly set up chapters like this that establish the backstory for the next three or so and then after that we'll start getting into the meat of the story.**

**Third chapter of the re-write is now done. Onto the next one.**

**Unity9: Thanks for the review and glad to know you're enjoying it so far!**


	4. In the Navy

"…I want to join the Alliance."

Jack spewed the hot coffee he had been drinking out of surprise, resulting in the brown liquid covering the lower portion of his body. "Dammit Nate, you can't surprise me like that. I'm too old." He sighed looking at the liquid-stained pants. "Now repeat that again. I thought I heard you say you're joining the Alliance but I must have misheard."

"I said I want to join the military." I reiterated firmly. Sitting down on the portion of the couch next to him that was still untouched by the hot brown fluid.

Daxyrus scratched his fringe awkwardly in a display reminiscent of how we humans scratched our head when we were nervous. "I'll let you two guys talk it out between yourselves. You need me I'll be in the other room."

As he left, the ex-soldier spoke up. "Now what brought you to that decision? I'm not against it. Hell I was a Marine back in the day myself, fought the Turians in First Contact. But anyway, that's another story for another time. I know you have a little bit of a tendency to make impulse decisions but this isn't a small thing to decide. You sign the form that's five years of your life, minimum. You are property of the Alliance for that time. You do what they say, when they say, exactly how they say you do it. Do you think you have the discipline and patience to not snap when you have a drill instructor screaming in your face? I don't want to come off like I'm trying to scare you because that's not my intention but I had a few fellow recruits who just broke down and couldn't handle it. You enter the military and you're gonna leave a different person. Whether it's for better or worse…you'll definitely change."

Leaning back into the couch, he took a deep breath then exhaled loudly. "Now that I've gone over the bad portion let me tell you some good things. I met some of my closest friends that I'm still in contact with to this day through the Alliance. There's nothing quite like the bonds you forge in the trenches when you've got nothing to rely on but your buddies having your back and you having theirs. Hell, as strange as it sounds that's where I met the love of my life." He chuckled, probably engrossed in some memory of the times before snapping out of it and turning towards me. "Sorry, got distracted there. What I was going to say is that if you're set on the Alliance as your future then I'll support you in it. I'll even pull some strings with some old contacts still in there to get you in right away. You're already pretty lethal with those pistols and rifles I trained you with and from what the Turian told me it's not just on the range." He paused for a moment. "Tell me something. Did you really shoot that bastard Curt in the leg? God I would've paid some credits to see that."

"Yeah I did, right in the kneecap. Unfortunately I had to do the same thing to Finch too. You know for a half-second I almost went through it because I didn't want to disappoint him. He was really a good friend. It just sucks I didn't realize 'till I was in too deep that the Reds were racist scum and that Finch had the same views as them."

"Hey people make mistakes sometimes. That's just a part of growing up. It's how you learn. Now I'm not saying everybody gets in a situation where they have to shoot both their best friend and their boss in in a big life or death moral dilemma but I guess that just means you'll learn even more from this situation." The store owner paused, trying to get the conversation back on track after the derailment on the subject of the Reds incident. "Back to the Alliance talk though. Like I said, you're nineteen now and capable of making your own decisions. Whatever you think is the best path I'll back you one-hundred percent and help you out in whatever way I reasonably can."

Thinking for a moment, I contemplated alternative options but the thing that kept popping back into the forefront of my mind was the interview with the Alliance Lieutenant who had saved the entire colony of Elysium. "I think this is what I want to do Jack. I don't want to go to some other town and fall in with the wrong crowd again and this is a way I can do something for somebody else for a change. There aren't really any other options that come to mind so I think this is it. I don't really know what I have to do to join though…"

Mr. Ramsey waved his hand in a dismissive manner as he stood up. "That's no big deal at all. There's an Alliance recruitment center downtown that I'll take you to today. All you have to do is provide them with some basic info, they'll give you a physical and usually after that you'd have to wait a while before leaving for Boot Camp but I think I can get you in immediately by calling in some old favors that I'm owed. From then on though, unless you're on leave, all your time is at the base or the surrounding area doing basic training. That lasts about three months and then you get your MOS training. So we should probably get going now then I guess. No time like the present." He looked down at his soiled clothing. "But first I should probably change out of these pants."

**LINE BREAK**

"So you talked to Jack then?" Daxyrus, brought me out of my daze.

"Sorry what was that?"

"I was asking if you'd gone over your plans for joining the Alliance with Jack. You seem like your mind is someplace else right now so I was just wondering how everything went, as long as you don't mind talking about it of course."

"No not all. I don't mind." I shook my head. "You know, I think everything went pretty well all things considered. He had a few concerns of course but I expected that. Overall though I think he supported the idea. Honestly, I think the whole thing really surprised him. The military lifestyle was never really something I had previously considered…I'm not the most disciplined guy in case you didn't notice." I gave a self-deprecating smirk. "He told me a little bit about his military past but it wasn't like I was constantly bugging him about every little detail. I think he never really considered that I would want to sign up too."

"I'm not surprised that he was concerned. He's not your dad technically but he might as well have been from what you and he have said. The guy pretty much raised you from your teenage years so I think you should cut him a bit of slack. It's pretty much his job to be concerned." Dax sat down across from me at the kitchen table, plate full of dextro amino food in hand. He set it down and began to eat as he talked. "So what do you want to do once you join? There's hundreds of different jobs that are available to you so you should start to get an idea now." I just gave a bewildered look. "Alright. First off, I know the Alliance is technically entirely compromised of a Navy but there is a Marine component that specializes in ground-based warfare if the idea of living your whole life ship-bound seems unappealing to you."

I propped my elbows up on the table, leaning forward to talk. "Do you need anything special to get into the Marines? Is it something performance based that you're promoted into or do you sign up when you first join? Hell, you probably don't even know, never mind. Forget I said anything."

"Well I did actually study the military structure of other cultures a little bit back when I was younger. Other societies have always interested me and as one of your famous generals said, 'know your enemy.' No offence meant but tensions were a lot higher twenty years ago before you were born and it seemed like a good idea at the time." Pausing, he took a sip from a large mug and set it back down with a contented sigh. "But to actually answer your question. If I remember correctly the Marines is something you sign up for when you first join. Biotics are especially encouraged to join as they're extremely useful in a fight. The training regimen for the Marines is also much different. From what I've heard they specialize almost entirely in combat training and on ships they pretty much serve guard duty and the actual engineering and all that is left to the non-Marines."

Leaning back I took in all the info that had been given to me by the Turian. "And here I was thinking you wouldn't know much about other species military structure. Proved me wrong on that one. I'm really leaning towards the Marines from what you've said so far. The whole ship life doesn't really appeal to me too much. I'd much rather keep my feet on solid ground given the option and this sounds like the best way."

The conversation came to a standstill after that as Dax resumed his eating and I waited for Jack to return with his new pair of pants. As I intently studied the intricacies of the woodwork on the table a thought came into my head. "Hey you said you were military right? Now I know you don't really like talking about your past you said but you could at least tell me a bit about your training, please?" I gave my best puppy dog eyes which at nineteen years of age and being used on an adult Turian probably would have negative effects if any, but luckily he was in a talking mood at the moment.

"Hmmm. Well I guess it wouldn't hurt. I was the tech specialist in my unit. My job was to disrupt the enemy electronics and firearms with my omni-tool at every given opportunity." He took a sip of his drink. "I was damn good at it too if you'll allow me to brag. I also was a crack shot with a sniper rifle. Haven't fired one in ages but back in the day I could nail any target I wanted and put it down quick." He stood up from the table and walked over to the fridge, rummaging through for another drink. His voice echoed as he continued. "I was also a go-between guy for the Turian Cabals and the normal military branches since I could actually get along well with both sides."

Raising my hand, I spoke up. "Hold on. Human here needs an explanation. What in the hell are the Cabals?"

"Oh, right. Well the Cabals are biotic specialists in the Turian military. Unlike your Alliance where both work cohesively together, biotics work in completely separate branches from the other soldiers. Prejudices against them ran high and since I was one of the few who got along with both sides, I was appointed to be spokesman since others wouldn't." He chuckled as he walked back and pulled out the chair, holding an orange Tupari sports drink he started gesturing with. "Those crazy bastards could raise hell. You should've seen 'em then. An entire platoon of biotic warriors just tearing through whatever got in their way. It was a beautiful thing to see."

"I'll bet. So now that we've reminisced about both our pasts and discussed my future the only thing left is you. I know what I'm doing, well for the next five years at least, but what about you. What are you planning?" I raised my index finger. "Sorry, hold on one sec." I raised my voice and called into the other room. "Hey Jack! You almost ready or did you slip and fall in there? How long does it take for a guy to change into new pants?"

A coarse voice could be heard from the other room joking back. "I'm just giving you and Dax time to finish your heart to heart in there, I'll be ready in five minutes though so be ready to go to the recruitment center once I get out, unless of course you'd like to go back and meet Weisman at the Reds HQ."

I put my fingers to my chin in mock thought. "I think I'll pass on that, thanks for the offer though." I turned back to the turian sitting across from me. "Sorry about that, now I think I was asking you about your plans for the future."

"You know, I've been thinking about that since we busted out of that hellhole. If Mr. Ramsey lets me, I wouldn't mind staying on and working for him here at the shop. It wouldn't take too long to get reacquainted with modern firearms and I could give him a break and watch the shop every once in a while when I do catch back up. You've known him a lot longer than I have though, think he'll let me work for him if I ask?"

"I know he's been looking for someone to help him out for a while now but it's been hard to find a guy who he can trust with the place when he's not there and I'm not knowledgeable enough yet to do it. If I was in your shoes I'd give it a shot, I mean what's the worst that can happen?" I gave a shrug. "He says no and then it's not like you've lost anything anyway."

At that Jack walked out of the back room after completing his change into attire that wasn't coffee stained. "Hey Nate, you ready to go? The skycar is out back so we can just hop in and head straight to the recruitment center."

I waved him out. "Yeah you can go ahead. I'm gonna say bye to Dax and then I'll be right out to the skycar to join you."

As the older human left the building I turned back to say farewell to my newfound companion of the last couple days. "Well, guess this it Dax. I hope everything goes well for you and maybe when I come back on leave in a few months you'll be tending shop with the old man."

"I sure hope so Nate." A wide Turian grin spread across his mandibles. "Thanks for not shooting me in the head back there, I really appreciate it. If there's any way I can help you out just reach out to me and I'll do what I can, after all you did technically save my life so I owe you one."

I put my hand out to shake and he took it in his three-fingered grip and shook. "Thanks Dax, I might have to take you up on that someday so watch out." Chuckling lightly, he gave a final goodbye as I walked through the Armory for what could be the last time in a long while. I took in once again the sights of various weaponry and military posters that covered the walls. Stepping up to one of the posters advertising the bright career a soldier could have in the Alliance, I traced my finger absentmindedly down the side of it, pondering my new future as I left the store to the sound of clanging bells.

**LINE BREAK**

"So Jack, just how far is this recruitment center?" I looked over at the driver of the shiny blue skycar I was currently riding shotgun in as the urban metropolis of Detroit passed us by. Skyscrapers were around us on all sides and the chaotic flow of rush hour traffic swept us up and rolled us along to our destination. As the silence continued I waved my hand in front of Jack. "Hey, what's up, you alright?"

He shook his head, as if to snap out of a reverie. "Sorry bud, I was just thinking about how different things were when I joined up twenty-five years ago. Things have changed so much in that little timeframe. Hell, back then we still thought we were all alone in the galaxy." He gave a dry chuckle and glanced over towards me.

"I think you're just getting old." I said with a chuckle, giving him a friendly nudge with my elbow. Leaning back into my seat, I propped my feet up on the dash. "But seriously, when you signed up did you ever think that once you retired you'd be guardian slash babysitter to some punk kid from the streets? I can't imagine that was what you had in mind once you left the Corps."

He laughed mirthfully. "Nope, can't say that I ever thought I'd be taking care of a kid. I always wanted to come back home to Detroit, then my interest in firearms and experience in the Marines naturally led me to opening up the Armory. The kid part though, definitely not. 'Specially since I didn't really plan on ever settling down." Putting the car on autopilot he looked over at me and ruffled my shaggy black hair good-naturedly. "But I'd do the whole thing over again if you gave me the choice, don't regret one bit of it."

Pulling at my hair I tried to repair the damage that had been caused by the hand of Jack Ramsey. "Thanks Jack, that means a lot…I know I act like a smart ass sometimes." He glanced back over and gave me a look. "Okay most of the time, but despite my sarcasm and general jerkiness I appreciate everything you've done for me. If it wasn't for you I think that situation with Dax would have gone a lot differently. Now that I think about it, I might not even be alive right now. If you wouldn't have taken me in back then who knows what would have happened."

"Hey, it's no problem at all. Like I said, I don't regret any of it." I opened my mouth to ask a question but before I could he interrupted. "And I know that with your tough guy act you can't handle the whole feelings thing yet without changing the subject as soon as possible, so before you even ask the recruitment center is five minutes out according to the nav system."

I shut my mouth since his preemptive answer beat me to the punch, deciding to simply take in the last few minutes of the ride in silence. As we flew through the urban metropolis I looked at the bright array of cars surrounding us as we weaved in and out of traffic. Down below, crowds of citizens walked about, attending to their daily lives. From this height they looked almost like little ants, scurrying about their work and not concerned with anything but their personal task that they had to accomplish right then. As we got closer to the Alliance building I pondered my life in this city I'd grown up in. Things had ended pretty poorly…now that I think about it they hadn't started great either, but the middle portion wasn't too bad. Living out on the streets was alright and if I wanted a place to stay consistently then Jack's was always available, but now the whole thing was over. I was being flung headlong into a world that I knew next to nothing about besides a quick speech from Jack and what I'd read on the net. For better or worse, the next phase of my life had begun.

**LINE BREAK**

As we touched down at the center I surveyed the building, taking in all the details. It was painted in a deep royal blue with a large Alliance symbol arching over the entrance, which was illuminated by bright white lights from the lawn on both sides. As Jack led me into the building, we walked through the automatic doors single file and into a large lobby which continued the color theme by being furnished with large blue couches which looked like they had all the comfort of sitting on the hard tile floor for as big as they were in size.

As we walked over to the front desk a brunette receptionist who was probably about twenty looked up from her paperwork. "Good afternoon gentlemen, if you could hold on one minute I'll be right with you. If you could just take a seat right over there." She pointed over to the deep blue furniture. "I'll call you back up as soon as I can."

We turned from the desk, walked over to the furniture and took a seat on some empty chairs. Jack grabbed an Alliance news magazine and started reading. Tapping my foot nervously I waited in silence for the receptionist to call me back up to the desk to be registered for military service. The sterile blue room didn't give much scenery to take in and my patience began to wear thin until the receptionist came back and called us.

"Sir? If you come back up we can get you signed up right now." She grabbed some papers from behind her station and handed them over the counter. "If you could just fill these out everything will be taken care of. I'll also review it with you afterwards to make sure all your personal information is correct."

**LINE BREAK**

Sighing, I stood up from the chair. "Finally done with this crap, Jack there better not be this much paperwork to fill out once I actually join up."

His voice came from behind the magazine he was still reading. "You'd be surprised. If you make it to NCO status you'll have your fair share to fill out daily. There's a lot more to the army than just shooting a gun and training."

"I'm the unluckiest guy on the planet. Think I'll go back and take my chances with the Reds."

As I walked back over to the receptionist I heard a mumbled answer. "Much too late for that now kid."

As I handed the info over to the chestnut haired woman she motioned me to come to the back. We walked through the winding hallways until we came a room filled to the brim with basic medical equipment. "Alright, now I'll just go over everything you filled out real quick. After that we'll give you a basic scan and then you can go on your way. Now your height is 6'2", weight is 185 pounds, your hair color is black and eyes are brown is that correct?" Pausing for a moment, she looked at me from behind her clipboard.

"Yup."

"Okay now it also says you have never received a scan for biotic potential either?"

"No, I was raised in a…" Pausing, I tried to search for the correct way of phrasing it. "Rough neighborhood. Never had many spare creds to take some random medical test that probably wouldn't affect me in any way."

She marked the clipboard. "Okay, that will need to be done along with the basic scan then. Most of the time your biotic potential would have manifested itself in some way by now from my understanding but you know what they say, better safe than sorry. So, let's just get your shot, get the scans and then as long as everything goes well you can ship out as soon as possible."

Holding up my hand, I interrupted the nurse. "Excuse me, did you say shot? It's just I'm not a big fan of needles, it's a common phobia or so I'm told."

"We get that all the time." She smiled in a friendly manner, as she once again put a mark on the clipboard. I could feel my face heat up as I realized I was staring. "It's no big deal at all."

Turning away from me she reached into a large glass cabinet from which she retrieved a bottle containing a clear liquid into which she inserted what to me looked like a medieval instrument of torture. As she walked back over with the giant medical spike I turned my head away in distress. "Just, let me know when it's done please? Watching just makes everything worse."

"Of course, just roll up your right sleeve please and it'll all be over before you know it. It's really nothing more than a pinch, a bandage to go over the puncture mark and that's it." A few seconds passed and then I felt a sting in my forearm. "And we're done." She cleared her throat loudly to get my attention. "I said, we're done…that means you can open your eyes now Mr. Wolfert." She poked me in the head and I barely opened one eye.

As the world came back into focus, I looked to the doorway where the woman was standing with a teasing smile. "Come on, now we're heading to where you get your scan. It'll take a bit longer because of the biotic portion that's needed but after that this'll be nothing more than a bad memory of the scary lady with the sharp needle."

As we strolled through the center once again I tried making small talk to pass the time. "So, receptionist, nurse and apparently comedian too. Do you fix the lighting in your spare time?"

"Yep and I also fight space aliens on the weekends and vacation days." I chuckled at the sarcasm she fired right back with. I can respect that. "But to answer your question seriously, no. The recruiting center here doesn't get much in terms of pass through traffic so I guess they figured you might as well hire a few less people and just have the ones already there fill a couple different roles." She raised her shoulders in a shrugging motion. "But hey, I don't care. It's a bit of extra work but I make more money in my paycheck so it works out just fine for me. Helps pay for college."

"I guess that makes sense. My name's Nate by the way." I stuck out my hand, which she took and shook in turn.

"I know, you did just hand me over all your personal info. Did you think I just took it and pretended to read it all before tossing it in the garbage?"

"Well, actually I was just trying to find out your name but couldn't think of any other way to ask. When I talk to pretty girls this thing happens where my tongue swells up and my brain doesn't work like it should. It's actually my second greatest weakness, besides needles of course, so you have the misfortune of seeing me at my very worst today."

"Oh that's too bad, maybe we'll have to catch up sometime when I don't have a needle so it's only one flaw. And my name is Emma by the way."

I smiled back at the nurse. "I'd like that Emma." Wait a second, did I just get asked out to a date? I definitely hope that was how being asked out works. Never really done the whole, "dating," thing before, having zero money and being a street thug kind of hampers your love life.

She pointed into a large room, which was practically empty besides a large piece of circular sterile white machinery with a stretcher-like bed extended from the center. "Go ahead and hang your shirt over the chairs here. Then lie down on the bed while I put the finishing touches on the machine here."

I added a wink to the large smirk that was already plastered on my face as I removed my shirt and hung it on the furniture. "Wow, this is moving pretty fast. Are you always this forward or is it just my rugged good looks?"

"Seriously?" Emma gave a small annoyed moan and a look to back up her statement as she rolled her eyes. "I shouldn't have tried being so nice." She mumbled. Turning around she started pressing buttons to prepare everything before she looked up at me and gave a frightened gasp and pointed. "What the hell, I mean heck, happened to your chest?"

Looking down I panicked for a moment before coming up with a cover story. "Oh this thing? I got that as a kid. Pulled a scalding hot pan off the stove and it fell right on my chest." Wow, that was absolutely terrible, a five year old child could see through that story.

"But…it looks like it's in the shape of a ten."

Scratching my hair I looked off to the side of the room apprehensively. "Yeah, I think that was the company logo or something. I uh, can't really remember though, it was a long time ago and I was just a kid."

"Sure, ok." An awkward silence filled the room before Emma brought up another topic of discussion. "So Nate, why are you joining the Alliance? Usually it seems like it runs in the family but I'm always curious about people's reasons."

Pondering for a moment whether or not to lie to the girl again I decided that honesty was the best policy this time. So, taking on a deadpan tone of voice and my best poker face I launched into the story. "Actually I'm on the run from a local gang. They have a kill on sight order since I shot their boss and my best friend in the knee during my hazing ritual. They wanted me to kill some random Turian but I declined and instead escaped with said Turian they were holding captive so now I'm getting the hell out of town before they can hunt me down and kill me. My legal guardian, who happened to take me in after I attempted to burglarize his store, joined the Alliance Marines when he was young and fought the Turians in the fifties so I decided to follow in his footsteps. And now I'm here talking to Emma, the pretty Alliance nurse and receptionist. And I'm really, really sorry for being such a difficult patient…and a smart ass."

"Well fine then." She fake-pouted and crossed her arms. "Don't tell me the story." I breathed a sigh of relief at her letting it go. "Oh and everything is ready by the way, just lie down and I'll begin the test. And try not to fall asleep during it. Thirty minutes is a long time and you have to stay awake for the whole thing otherwise you might move around, it won't scan properly and it all has to be re-done. Nobody wants that of course." She paused as she started to walk away. "Oh, the compliment and apology did not work in distracting me by the way." She gave a wink before the door closed behind her.

Geez, she's a pretty damned tenacious woman.

**LINE BREAK**

The next thirty minutes were probably the most boring of my life to date. I tried all the tried and true tactics of keeping yourself conscious. I hummed the few tunes I knew, tried to count the lights around the machine, thought of what I was gonna do once I actually joined the military and generally boring stuff like that, but trust me, when you're in a tiny, enclosed space like that with nothing to do then there's only so long you can fight off the rebellion by your eyelids. I was almost surrendering to sleep when I heard a loud knock on the machine. Now this might not seem like a big deal but when you're in a cramped space for half an hour with no sound except the light hum of the machine, the echoing sound of someone knocking is ear-splitting.

"Ow, motherf-," I brought my hands up, trying to cover my ears in protest.

"Hey! You still awake in there Nathan? I would hate to have to re-calibrate this whole thing and do it again."

"I'm fine, my eardrums might be permanently damaged. Other than that, awake and all good." At that the sound of laughter could be heard echoing from just outside the machine. As I exited the machine, Emma could be seen standing at the doorway, indicating for me to follow her.

We walked back through the hallways and into the main lobby, where she took her spot behind the desk back. "Alright, now the scan results will be completed in about ten minutes. Assuming those are all clear, how soon were you hoping to ship out?"

"As soon as possible I guess. My guardian actually said he's taking care of things though. I'm pretty eager to get out of here and get started so I think he's going to handle it. Said some mysterious things about reaching out to some of his old contacts and pulling some strings so we'll see how that goes."

Reaching into her desk drawers the brunette pulled out a large list that she started paging through on her omni-tool. "…Huh, ok, well, it looks like an airbus headed to Basic is coming through the day after tomorrow, if you want to let him know it might help him out on his end."

"Hold on a second." I looked over to Jack who just gave a nod of assent from behind his magazine. "I guess that'll work then, Jack says he's got it taken care of. Does it say where I'll be assigned?"

"Let me take a look here, alright it looks like this particular bus is assigned to the 1st Battalion, 4th Marine regiment. As long as you pass through the thirteen weeks of training then you'll be assigned to them." At the sound of a loud ding behind her, Emma raised up her index finger and apologized. "Sorry I've got to work with these scans, if you could just sit over there I'll have them up in just a couple minutes now."

"No problem, just let me know whenever things are ready and I'll come back up."

I strolled back into the lobby and took a seat next to the ex-soldier. "So, how did things go?"

"Eh, alright I guess." I shrugged and relaxed back into my chair. "The scans are just about done, it took longer since they had to do a biotic one too but I think they're just about ready. Oh, and I'm assigned to the 1st battalion in the 4th Marine regiment. Other than that I don't really know too much."

He set down his magazine and glanced up at me. "You should probably get all the info you can about them off the 'net possible. Most battalions have their own specialization like heavy artillery, vehicles, et cetera, so you should know what you're getting into."

"Huh, ok then. I do have a bit of time to kill before the results are in, and it's not like I've got better to do anyway. After flirting with the cute receptionist I can't just go back to talking to the old guy. It'll ruin my sterling reputation."

"For your sake Nate, I'm gonna pretend I didn't hear that." He brought the magazine back up to his face and continued our tradition of insults followed by empty threats. "And just remember that you're not a Marine yet, barely an adult and I can still thrash you any day of the week little man."

"Of course you can old-timer." Chuckling, I pulled up the bright orange display and searched for the particular battalion I was to be assigned to. Apparently the "China Marines" had been around for over two-hundred fifty years and were one of the few American Marine units that had survived since the early world wars and were grandfathered directly into Alliance service. According to everything I could find the battalion specialized in hard-hitting, fast moving light infantry whose primary objective was to seek out the enemy force and destroy them in close combat. That sounded like something I could do, being cooped up in a hot vehicle sweating your ass off didn't sound too appealing. Plus, I had to admit to myself, the logo was pretty bad ass, you could do worse than an oriental-looking dragon coiled around a dagger.

I browsed through for a while longer before my search was interrupted by the receptionist, Emma. "Hey Nate, your scans are in if you want to take a quick look. I'll transfer everything to your omni-tool if that's ok."

"Sure thing, Jack'll want to look over everything with me anyway so that'd be great, thanks." She gave a friendly smile as she started typing into the large holographic display on her desk. Nervously, I started scratching at the back of my head as tried to gather the courage to ask her something. "So, I know we were talking a bit earlier about hanging out sometime and I was thinking since, y' know, I'm leaving soon and I'll be gone for a while…"

Thankfully my nervous ramblings were interrupted before I could make an even bigger fool of myself. "There's a new Italian place downtown I'd like to try. I'm free tomorrow night, can I pick you up at six?"

"Yeah, yeah for sure," I stammered like an idiot, "that sounds great. So uh…I guess I'll see you then?"

I started to walk away but was interrupted by a female voice. "Oh, and just wondering. Where did all the stupid comments go? I was waiting for some cheesy pick-up line, seemed like it'd be something you'd pull."

"You're right. That would have been much more in-character for me." I smiled back, waving goodbye as Mr. Ramsey and I left. "Don't worry I'll be re-stocked with the smart-assery come tomorrow night."

"Good, although, I don't think smart-assery is an actual word." In answer to which I simply shrugged. "I'll see you tomorrow Nathan."

I walked out to the skycar, which was already started, courtesy of Jack who had grown tired of waiting. As I climbed up into the passenger seat, he put into drive and quipped. "So, you done flirting with the lady or can we go now?"

**A/N: So, I think I've finally got my schedule sorted out. A new chapter will be posted on Fridays at around 3pm as long as nothing unforeseen comes up. I'm comfortably cranking out about 6,000 words a week which puts me at one chapter on average. I decided from the beginning that I wanted to have a steady production rate so between that and the backlog I already have that's what the update schedule will be. Big thanks to everyone who's read, reviewed, followed and favorited!**

**Another chapter done. Same deal, no big changes just some tweaking here and there.**

**Unity9: No problem. I like talking to the people who take the time to read my story so as long as work and school don't completely swamp me I'm going to try and give everybody who reviews at least a brief response in answer. And as far as the updating goes, what I wrote above is pretty much how it's going to go unless I get fired from work and stop going to school that's how it'll be…then I'll have other issues though.**

**SoMuchGerry: Gotcha, that makes sense. I knew going in that the pre-ME1 stuff was going to take a while but once I actually started sitting down and writing it just kind of took a life of its own. Right now I've written over 150k words and I'm just finishing up the year 2179. I've been thinking about making the first book strictly backstory stuff but we'll see how it goes when I get to that point.**

**UnkownArtyom: Thanks for the review and glad you're liking it! I know that was really the first thing I decided when I started going over my concepts for the story was that Wolf (even though I didn't have the name at the time) would be someone who a rather nice and outgoing, if somewhat snarky, person in social settings but when it comes to other stuff he'd be…not so nice. Sort of a, "combat pragmatist," to use a Tv Tropes term. Also, just wanted to say I'm a big fan of your Mass Eject series and hope you update it soon.**


	5. Highway to the

I laid back on the bed and turned on the TV in my hotel room. Detroit was playing Edmonton tonight in the EUCC so I kicked back and got ready to watch. Also, Dax had gotten ahold of Jack while I was getting the medical scans and the Reds were apparently asking around about me as they just so happened to pay a visit to the Armory. He was doing fine and got the gang members out of there without any incidents but once Jack learned that bit of information, he recommended I stay at the hotel nearby the recruitment center.

My medical scans came back with a clean bill of health, the biotic scan was positive too so apparently I have to get surgery once I reach base to install an L3 implant in my head. The report said that even though I tested positive it simply means that the potential to use biotics is there. Not everyone who tests positive for the scan is capable of throwing some poor bastard into a wall with their mind, some people can barely even lift a glass of water while others are capable of insane feats of strength. So, in addition to my Marine basic training there's an extra hour everyday afterwards that I'll be focusing solely on biotics along with other students who got the same results as me.

Opening up my omni-tool I decided to spend some time before I went to sleep researching my newfound biotic capabilities. Apparently, biotics could be used for many different tasks. Everything from projecting barriers that could block bullets to lifting objects into the air and throwing them and even "warps" that rip targets apart by shifting mass effect fields so rapidly that they tear the very fabric of whatever they touch. I spent the next half-hour or so engrossed in all things biotics and hoping that I would be capable of those things myself very soon. Smirking I thought of the possibilities of throwing around some batarian slavers with nothing but a simple wave of the hand. The more I thought about it, the whole thing reminded me of those old vids Jack showed me one time where these guys ran around with light-swords and chucked shit around with telekinesis or whatever the hell that's called, I always get my, "tele's," confused. I don't really remember too much about the films other than that but apparently they were classics a hundred years ago or whenever it was they came out.

Eventually, my curiosity was sated and I broke free from the tangents I was trapped in. With a colossal yawn, I glanced over to the alarm clock. The bright blue display staring back unflinchingly told me it was one in the morning. Swearing loudly, I realized I had stayed up way too late if I wanted to get a decent start tomorrow morning. Sitting up in bed I took off my t-shirt and tossed it over onto one of the nearby chairs and then rolled over to grab the remote. Detroit had been pulverized tonight so I guess I didn't miss much by looking up biotics instead and simply leaving that as background noise in the room. Finally, after everything had been darkened I pulled the covers up to my chest and settled in for the night.

**LINE BREAK**

The sound of my omni-tool going off woke me up the next morning. I rolled over to look and see the holographic display indicating there was a call from Jack Ramsey incoming. Moaning, I opened up the display and was greeted by the voice of my black haired, buzzcut sporting, unofficial guardian.

"Hey what's going on Nate, did I wake you up?"

I stretched and yawned as I answered. "Yup, decided to sleep in since it's not like I had anything else to do. Oh, I've got a date with Emma tonight do you think you could loan me a few dollars? I need to pick up a decent outfit since my wardrobe isn't exactly suitable for an upper-scale restaurant. I promise I'll pay you back as soon as I start collecting pay from the Alliance."

"Yeah, sure thing bud. Where are you kids heading to tonight?" An undistinguishable voice could be heard in the background. "Daxyrus says to tell you hello…also, he wants to know if it's just the Reds or if all humans are racist and can't tell one Turian from another. He says that some punks came in looking for you today that he recognized from the gang while we were out yesterday and they had no clue who he was."

Giving a small chuckle, I answered back. "Tell 'em it's just the Reds and not to worry, I could pick him out of a crowd if I needed to save his scaly ass again."

I paused a moment to let him relay the message back to the Turian. The response to which was a predictably loud flanging voice which once again I couldn't interpret. "I think I'll let that last message go unheard. It's better that way. And I don't think you said where you were going."

"Oh. Right. She said there's this new Italian place that's close by the hotel and recruitment center that she wanted to try so it's a win-win for her. She gets to try the food and gets to hang out with yours truly. How could the night get any better?"

A loud, exaggerated sigh could be heard from the other end of the line. "Please give her my condolences. Tell her I wouldn't have brought you if I'd known the consequences would be so dire."

"Hahaha, sarcasm is my thing Jack. Anyway, I should get going then, I've gotta pick up those clothes so I'm on time, don't wanna be late meeting Emma. Talk to you later, tell Lennie I said bye. Oh, and thanks for setting things up yesterday at the recruitment center, I appreciate it."

**LINE BREAK**

A ringing sound interrupted the last-minute adjustments I was making to my wardrobe. "Hey Emma, I'm just about ready. I'll meet you in the lobby in five ok?"

"Ok Nate, see you in a sec."

Bringing my hand up to my neck, I tightened the knot on my skinny black tie. Then reaching over to the closet I pulled out my light gray vest and put both arms through as I walked over to the sink to spray a bit of cologne. "And, I think that'll do it." Looking into the mirror I gave a final look-over just to make sure everything looked alright before leaving the room, turning out the light as I closed the door.

Ambling through the hotel hallways, I made my way to the elevator and hit the button to take me down to the lobby. As the doors opened I surveyed the lobby, scanning for a familiar face until my eyes settled on a stunning brunette with bright blue eyes who was adjusting her makeup. Walking up behind her I gave a light cough to attract attention at which she closed up her kit and turned around.

"Nate!" Placing both hands on her hips she adopted an "angry" posture. "Wow, and I thought I take a long time to get ready, don't you know it's not a good idea to keep your date waiting?"

"I'm sorry." Leaning down towards the shorter woman I gave her a quick hug hello. "To be honest I don't really dress up, like ever, so I had to look up how to tie a tie and everything." As I took a step back I looked up and down and gave a low whistle of appreciation. Emma did look truly gorgeous in a dark green dress with a fancy-looking necklace and large silver hoop earrings to complete the ensemble. "You look absolutely amazing by the way."

"Well, I guess you can be forgiven this time. And you clean up alright yourself, just let me adjust that tie for you." Emma pulled me in closer and fiddled with the knot for a bit. "And there we are, you ready to go soldier boy?"

Opening the door I offered my hand. "After you Em."

"You don't mind if we walk do you? It's a really nice night out for this time of year and I'd love to take advantage of this before it gets frigid again."

"That sounds great, as long as you know the way then let's do it."

We walked through the streets of Detroit holding hands, making small talk about the weather and just life in general. I was amazed at the difference in this part of the city compared to what I was used to. Here families were window shopping and couples like us strolled about in nice clothes not doing too much in particular as skycars of all makes and models passed overhead. Absentmindedly I wondered how quickly I'd get mugged if I walked back into Red territory in clothes like this, maybe I could make it ten minutes if I stayed low-key.

Despite my gloomy thoughts I couldn't help but notice that it truly was a beautiful night. Dusk was just drawing to an end, and as we continued on Emma told me more about her life at home. The only child to a doctor who got married in his older twenties to, "the only woman he ever met who could put him in his place," was the way he told it according to her. Even as a small child she could remember playing with the toy medical kits her father would bring home as a gift. So from a very young age nursing was just something she had always known she wanted as a profession.

Looking up at me Emma gave a smile and a squeeze of the hand. "What about you Wolf? Have you always wanted to be a big space Marine hero?"

"Well." I gave a little chuckle and scratched the back of my head nervously. "Not really, I was actually going to-"

A little shout interrupted my answer. "Oooh, hold that thought. We're here."

Looking up at the illuminated sign of a stereotypical man with a large moustache in a baker's hat spinning a pizza we walked towards, "Joey's Ristorante." Opening up the door for my female companion as we entered, I simply trailed behind afterwards as we strolled up to the counter.

Emma spoke up, addressing the man behind it. "Hi I've got reservations for Perri, party of two at 6:45."

"Alright ma'am if you two could follow me I'll take you to your seat." Weaving through the inner workings of the restaurant with machine-like precision he dodged other servers with ease before stopping at a table. "If you would both take a seat your waitress will be with you shortly."

Pulling out Emma's seat for her, I let her rest before taking the chair opposite. "Thanks for suggesting we walk. It's definitely a really nice night and I'm glad I could get to know a little bit about your family."

My date leaned forward and propped her elbows on the table, cupping her chin in her hands. Giving a slight tilt to her head in an undeniably cute fashion she raised a question. "Speaking of family…you never did tell me about yours, even though you know all about mine."

"Do all girls practice poses like that to get guys to do what they want?" She simply nodded her head, at which I heaved a sigh. "Alright-"

At that moment the waitress, a short and petite little black-haired woman walked up beside the table. "Hi, my name's Natalie, I'll be your server tonight. What can I get for you two?"

"Ummm…" Emma looked over at me. "What do you think Nate?"

After consulting with my partner we eventually settled on calamari for the appetizer and an order of chicken parmesan each. Menus in hand and orders recorded on her omni-tool the waitress headed to the kitchen, leaving us alone once more.

"Alright, now hopefully we won't have any more interruptions so go ahead and tell me the story."

I leaned back in my chair and crossed my arms across my chest. "You really want to know about me? It's uh…it's not a pretty story and I don't want to kill the date prematurely."

"Of course I do…wouldn't be asking if I didn't care." When I still hesitated she pleaded a little more. "C'mon Nate nobody's perfect, it can't have been that terrible."

"Alright fine, I'll give you the abridged version then." I took a quick sip of my drink and then started in. "Where do I even start? Well, I've never met my dad. Don't know where the guy lives, or even if he's living at all for that matter. My mom, from what little memories I had of her, was a saint who raised me up until I was six when our house was robbed by some burglar and she was shot and died shortly after. I spent the next few years wandering in and out of foster homes up until I was about thirteen or so when Jack, that guy who was there at the recruit center with me, unofficially took me in and started to watch out for me."

Emma just stared at me in a look that was equal parts pity and surprise. "Oh my god, I'm so sorry. I just thought that Jack was your dad, you guys do look a lot alike. How'd you survive out on the streets if you weren't in a home?"

"I stole. A lot really, I can be pretty sneaky for a bigger guy believe it or not. And hey, don't be sorry, as much as I give him crap Jack's a great guy and I wouldn't trade him for my real dad anyway. Would you like to see a picture of my mom?"

She just nodded in a silent assent at which I pulled up the 'tool's large orange display on my wrist and scrolled through my saved photos until I pulled up one of a raven-haired woman in her young twenties holding a baby child in her arms. I leaned over in my seat towards Emma. "This is the only picture of her that I have, I just wish things could've been different that day."

"What was her name?" Emma questioned in a soft tone of voice.

"Katrina, Katrina Elizabeth Wolfert."

"Y'know you have the same eyes as her. When you smile you get a cute little crinkle in your eyes at the corners."

"I prefer the term ruggedly handsome if you please." I gave a friendly smile to my partner. "So, did that satisfy your curiosity?"

"Just one more thing, you never did tell me why you're joining the military."

I scratched awkwardly at the back of my head, making a mental note meanwhile that I had to stop doing that when I was nervous. "Do you remember that story I told you back in the medical evaluation about shooting a gang leader and escaping with the turian hostage who got wounded in the escape?" She nodded. "Well, that was all true."

My tablemate gave a shocked gasp before leaning in close and then whispering in a conspiratorial fashion. "You mean you actually shot those guys?" After I nodded she followed it up with an uncharacteristic expletive. "Holy shit, I mean crap! How'd you do it?"

"Well Jack was ex-alliance you know? He trained me in how to shoot all kinds of-"

"No not that. I meant how'd you actually go through with shooting another human being, did you kill someone?" She recoiled and got a wary look on her face.

"No, it was completely non-fatal. And as for how I went through with it, the situation was pretty much life or death. Growing up on the streets I learned young that in those situations all you can really rely on is logic to get you out of there alive. Plus, it was either that or shoot Dax, a completely innocent man, so that made it a lot easier of a choice."

"But couldn't you have just turned them down?" I could tell that Emma was a bit incredulous at the ease with which I talked about shooting someone and rightfully so. Stealing and drug-running for a living growing up probably blurred the moral lines for me quite a bit now that I think about it.

"Sure, if I wanted to meet with an 'accident' and have my corpse end up being eaten by fishes in a lake somewhere." She recoiled. "Sorry, that was a bit graphic." Not wanting to further the awkward topic of conversation and take things further downhill, I scanned the room looking for our waitress figuring that it was probably about time for our food to arrive. Unable to pick her out of the crowd I continued to look around the room until settling upon a group of three men in their young twenties in various black and red articles of clothing, one of whom I recognized as the tall blonde guard from outside the Red base. Fortunately they hadn't seen the two of us yet and it didn't appear they knew I was here but it was just a matter of time 'till I was spotted. And I didn't want either me or Emma to deal with the results of that. Mentally I let loose a long list of curses. Couldn't I spend my last night here in peace, just relaxing with my date? I mean seriously, what the hell. Murphy and his stupid ass law.

Turning away from the gang members I subtly drew the brunette nurse's attention. "Hey, you see that tall blonde guy by the bar over there in black with the red tie? Try not to be too blatant about it please." As she nonchalantly turned I explained about his role in that day's events as a guard outside the warehouse. Him threatening me before escorting us in and then turning us over to Weisman for the grand tour. "If we don't get out of here and back to the hotel quickly then things won't be fun for either of us so we need to get a plan to get the hell out of here."

She sighed and shook her head. "I don't know why I believe you but I do and if what you've told me tonight is true then my chances are much better if I stick with you." A new resolve entered her eyes. "What do we do?"

Quickly I ran through ideas in my head of how to get out of there without drawing the attention of the thugs. Obviously, exiting via the front door wasn't really an option as they were standing so as we'd literally brush shoulders on the way out and I wasn't planning on risking anything I didn't have to with Emma here. So leaving out the back through the kitchen really was our only choice. Even with that option though the kitchen was seen fairly easily from their vantage point. I need to find a distraction.

Flagging over a waitress I pointed to the three standing at the bar, drinks in hand. Whispering a few quiet words before handing over some extra cash, she then nodded and confirmed my plan. "Oh sure thing sweetie, we get requests like that all the time. What number was it did you say?"

"The big three-oh, he's too shy to ask someone to do it for him. He doesn't like to make a big deal about it."

"I understand." She gave a quick up and down look. "He looks pretty good for thirty."

"Yeah, he's a big fitness buff. Works out all the time to stay in shape. And the baby face hides his age a little bit too."

"Alright, well I'll take care of that for you then."

As she walked back into the kitchen area of the restaurant a huge smirk started to spread across my face as the plan that I had formulated started to come together. "What do you have up your sleeve Nate, you wanna clue me in?"

"You'll know it when you see it, trust me. And when you do see it then follow me because we're getting the hell out of here."

I decided very quickly that waiting sucked and patience was a virtue in which I was indeed lacking. Mostly I was just hoping that they wouldn't turn around, then everything would be wasted in a matter of moments. Have you ever heard of the sensation a rabbit gets to just say screw it and haul ass as a hawk is circling overhead, even though it knows that moving at all pretty much means it's gonna be dinner? Yeah that's how I felt.

Finally, a group of waiters came out of the back holding a cake decorated with tiny Italian flags. As they drew closer I nudged Emma. "Alright, follow me. We've got a few seconds to move while they're sidetracked." Taking my date's hand I led her through the crown towards the exit. I turned for a moment to observe the gift being given to the Reds. As the waiters surrounded them a loud chorus of happy birthday rang throughout the building, drowning out the gang member's continued protests that it wasn't his birthday and he was only twenty-three. Steadily, his shouting grew more vulgar and he stood up yelling at the crowd to attempt to find out who set this up.

"C'mon, Nate we should go." Resuming our exit I turned forward and smashed right into an unfortunate waiter, knocking both me and him to the hard floor and surrounding us in the sound of smashing plates and cups.

"Well…fuck." It felt like the entire restaurant turned to stare at me as I stood back up. Dusting myself off, I offered my hand to pull the poor guy to his feet. "Sorry about that man, I'll uh…head to the back here and tell your boss it was all my fault."

"Oh no you don't have to do that, please just sit back down at your table with your friend."

My response was cut off by a voice I'd been dreading hearing for the last few minutes. "It's that punk ass kid Wolf! Cut him off boys, don't let him leave the building." Once again, I grabbed Emma's hand and this time we dashed into the back of the restaurant, all subtlety now tossed out the window. As we busted through the swinging double-doors, the sound of angry kitchen personnel warning us that the area was employee-only greeted us. I shoved an unlucky chef out of the way, offering an apology over my shoulder as we continued to run.

"Nate, the exit's this way!" Emma pulled me to the left and we escaped the building, three angry pairs of running feet following not too far behind.

"Listen, we need to split up. They don't care about you and they don't know who you are so you'll be just fine. I'm the guy they're after so following me will be their number one priority."

Scowling furiously, Emma responded as we sprinted through the back alleys of Detroit. "Shut up right now. If you think I'm some little girl who's just gonna run off and let you get killed by some thugs, you're dead wrong. You got me into this and now we're stuck together so that's it. I don't want to hear another word."

"Wow." Taken aback, I was stunned into silence for a few moments before I uttered the first thing that came to mind. "That was incredibly hot. Note to self, Emma's really cute when she's angry."

She let out a little smile at my stunned admission. "Just keep running soldier. Now that I think about it do you know the way back to the hotel?"

"Oh, we were supposed to be going somewhere? I kinda liked just running for my life." At a glare from her I continued quickly. "Kidding, just kidding, take a left here, three blocks straight, then right, a few more blocks then one more right and we'll be there." What can I say? Every once in a while growing up on the streets helps out.

We made it to the first intersection without incident and then turned. I looked over my shoulder only to see we were still being trailed by the three brutes. Silently, I sighed and made a mental note that nothing ever turns out like you want it to. "Take the nurse to dinner they said…it'll be fun they said…" It's amazing how fast you can run when you actually have to I've found. You ever want to break your mile time just put yourself in a life-or-death scenario and you'll smash it easy. Despite our continued efforts to shake our pursuers though they stuck doggedly to our tail and even slowly gained on us.

"You're a dead man once I catch you Wolf! And don't worry we're gonna have some fun with your bitch too before things are done so why don't you just stop now and save yourself the trouble?"

Ignoring Gavin's taunts I turned to my fellow runner to make sure she was doing alright. She looked a bit frightened but other than that in pretty good shape. "Hey you doing alright Em? Don't listen to that guy, we're only a few blocks away now. Everything's gonna be just fine."

"I'm doing great. Ran track in high school so this brings me back a few years. Can't say I ever had onlookers hurling death threats though, even if coach was a jerk I don't think it got that ugly."

Simply shaking my head I continued with our little nighttime jog. As we drew ever closer to the hotel my breath started coming in the form of ragged pants. It became clear as we rounded the bend for the homestretch that they were going to catch us, well me at least, Emma was doing great. They couldn't have been more than fifty yards away at this point. As I continued racing through back alleys I looked for random things to throw in their way to delay them. A chair here, some trash bins there, every little bit helped in my mind.

"Hey Emma, do you trust me?"

"I…um, yeah I guess I do for some stupid reason, why?"

"I've got a plan." Slipping of the wristband that contained my omni-tool I placed it into her hands and continued with my plan. Looking down at my leg I realized I had forgotten something. "Shit, I don't have my knife! I've always got that thing on me and now that I need it I leave it with Jack. God I'm such an idiot. Oh well, I'll figure it out. Anyways you see that turn, the hotel is just past it. You keep going on ahead and get in my room, number four-two-seven. It's written down in my omni-tool notes just in case you forgot. Go now, you'll be safe there."

"Nate, I said I'm sticking with you. I wo-"

"Hey, just trust me alright. I'll meet up with you in ten minutes." I gave her a big shit-eating grin to try and relieve her by appearing more confident than I actually was. "I got it handled, shooting wasn't the only thing Jack taught me."

As we rounded the last turn Emma continued on to safety while I paused, just out of sight around the bend. I gave her a little wink and a thumbs-up as she ran into the darkness of the shadows. As the sound of feet drew closer, I mentally prepared myself. Hope this first guy doesn't weigh too much I thought to myself.

"They went this way! Turn over here!"

As they rounded the corner I stepped out, spinning backwards into the first bastard and elbowing him with my left arm square in the neck. His feet flew up and smashing to the ground flat on his back I heard the breath get knocked out of him. Well that's one down, at least temporarily. Thank goodness these idiots spread out a bit. My thoughts were interrupted by a wild haymaker which I quickly raised my arm to block. Grabbing his now overextended arm I pulled my antagonist in close, giving a few quick punches to his gut. Exhaling sharply, the young man began to keel over and seizing the opportunity I quickly grabbed the back of his head, bringing his face down to meet my extended knee.

With one more assailant down I quickly scanned the field of battle, only to find my last pursuer just arriving on the scene, panting and out of breath. Seeing that both of his comrades were already down, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a nasty looking switchblade and began waving it menacingly as he circled.

I smiled broadly, trying to throw him off. "What is this where I throw out some clever quip about bringing fists to a knife fight or something like that?"

"No, this is the part where I kill you and your little girlfriend to get a big reward from the boss."

"Just out of curiosity…how big is the reward for me?"

With snake-like speed he lunged forward slashing outward, catching me off-guard. I tried my best to dodge but the blow caught me right on the chin, slicing me open easily. I paused for a moment as the blood started to flow and he once again moved around me.

"You know, I don't have to kill you right here. I'm sure the boss would love to do that personally, after he has some fun torturing you naturally. It's up to you." I wiped off the blood that started draining from my chin and simply raised my middle finger in response. He gave a final twirl to the knife and shrugged. "That's too bad. We could've had fun with that."

Once again, he slashed forward but as I was expecting it this time I managed to duck under the outstretched knife. I stepped forward and threw a few jabs toward his face but he recovered quickly, enough to shield his head and absorb the blows. Backpedaling quickly, I danced around and waited for him to make the next move. He obliged, snarling with anger as he lunged forward with his right hand. I responded in kind by simply sidestepping then pivoting, throwing my back into his chest and grabbing his still outstretched arm. With a loud grunt, I shifted my body weight and tossed the man over my shoulder onto his back. Before he could recover I stepped on the knife-arm to hold down any attempts to do damage with the weapon and kneeling down, kept punching until he lost consciousness.

As I stepped back, the amount of blood on the man's face shocked me as his and mine mingled together in a graphic display. Damn, I think I might have overdone it a bit. Oh well, at least I'm still breathing and that's what counts. Wiping my sleeve across my chin again, only to see it was coated in blood from my knife wound I cursed. "Damn it, I ruined my new shirt!" My expletive was interrupted by strong arms being wrapped around my neck.

"Think that's the least of your problems right now Wolf. That was a neat little trick back there with the elbow clothesline thing. Can't say I was expecting that."

Struggling to get the words out, I fought in vain to break the iron grip. "You know me…full of surprises."

I could feel Gavin breathing on my neck as he drew the noose ever tighter. "You know, the boss put ten thousand bucks on your head, dead or alive? I'm gonna be a rich man after this thanks to that stunt you pulled back at the warehouse." He paused for a moment and looked around. "Say, where's that little hottie you were with back at the restaurant? She around here somewhere too?"

"Fuck you." I managed to gasp out. "Not telling you shit."

I continued to struggle in vain against the larger Red. Despite my best efforts there was nothing I could do to break free and my breathing came in increasingly shallow gasps. The edges of my vision started to blur and knowing I had little left I decided to risk it all in a desperate gambit. Stopping all my struggling, I went limp in the hopes that he would relax in the slightest, when he took the bait I pushed out against his chest and reared my head back, slamming it into his nose.

My temporary captor released me from his grip and reeled back from the blow. As I fell to my knees I coughed hoarsely before breathing deeply in relief at my escape. Turning around I grinned at the sight of the tall criminal holding his nose as it gushed with the red liquid. "You broke my damn nose you little bitch! You know what? I'm through with this." Reaching into his coat he pulled out an M3 predator pistol. "Get on your fucking knees or I'll end you right now."

I lowered myself slowly down, incredulous at this latest development and desperately trying to figure out some way to tip the scales back in my favor. "Seriously? You've had that thing the whole damn time? Why didn't you use it earlier? Don't tell me you had some order from Weisman like," I put on a snooty accent in an effort to sound like the gang leader. "'Take him alive at all costs. I want to deal with him personally.' Of course, he's probably on crutches or something like that isn't he? How's my buddy Finch doing now that I think about it? If you see him tell him I wish him a speedy recovery and that Weisman rots in hell."

"Seriously. Shut. The fuck. Up. I am so glad I get to kill you. You're nothing but a loud-mouthed, cocky idiot." He walked closer and placed the pistol against my forehead. "Any last words Wolf? Actually, screw that, unless you're going to beg like a little girl then I'm not interested."

In response I simply looked up and spat. "Have fun with your nose, oh and you ruined your nice jacket with all the icky blood." Having said my piece, I waited in defiant silence. My thoughts strayed to Jack and the regrets that I wouldn't be able to thank him for everything he did for me. Hell, I wouldn't have lasted in that fight to this point if it wasn't for him. I smiled inwardly, he would've been proud that I went down fighting and got Emma to safety.

The sound of a wooden object colliding with a man's skull brought me out of my thoughts. I watched, flabbergasted as the tall figure of the Red fell sideways onto the rough pavement, out cold. Looking up I was greeted by the form of Emma, wooden implement resting on her shoulder and the other hand placed defiantly on her hip. The pose was thoroughly heroic and right then she was hands-down the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen in my life.

Wordlessly getting up from my kneeling posture, I crossed the distance between us and engulfed her in a massive hug while laughing uncontrollably, incredibly relieved at not having a hole in my head. "Just when I thought you couldn't be any more amazing you pull something like that. I am so glad you didn't listen to me right now." As we continued the embrace, the sound of a cross between a cry and relieved laugh filled the alleyway. I whispered into her ear in attempt to calm her down. "Hey, hey, don't cry, it's all ok now. We won. You saved me from the bad guys. Let's get inside the hotel, then we can talk ok?"

As we let each other go, I took her hand, wiped a tear from her eye and once again reassured her that everything was going to be fine. We walked through the lobby and took the elevator up in complete silence. What room was it again? The fight kinda messed with my short-term memory I guess. Racking my brains for a moment, I then remember it was four twenty-seven.

After Emma gave me back my omni-tool I swiped the access lock on the door and walked in. As my brunette partner walked in she started lowly laughing. It quickly upgraded though into a full-on giggle session. "I cannot believe I just smashed a guy over the head back there. That was so badass!" She jumped onto the couch and kicked up her feet. "So, is this a pretty typical date for you Nate Wolfert?"

Joining in the laughter I walked into the kitchen, reaffirming vocally that she was indeed a badass and that no, this was a little out of the ordinary for my encounters with the opposite sex. I took one look in the mirror and quickly concluded that I looked like shit. Half the buttons on my vest were missing, my sleeve was torn to shreds and blood from the horizontal slice on my chin covered most of the upper-half of my torso. I'm surprised no one stopped me in the lobby before I could get to the room. Grabbing a couple paper towels from the counter I wetted them before pressing the paper to my skin. I winced slightly as the adrenaline rush from the fight had started to wear off and the realization that my face hurt like a bitch had set in.

Walking back into the furnished portion of the hotel room I took a seat next to Em. "What's up with your chin?" She asked, concerned look on her face.

"It's nothing. Just a little scrape I got in the fight. No big deal."

She sat up, her nurse senses kicking in apparently and began to pull at the towel covering it, at which I protested vehemently only to be overruled. "Quit being a big baby and let me see it." She pulled away the makeshift bandage and the blood started to flow freely from the wound, resulting in her quickly covering it back up again. "Hold that on there for me, I'm going to grab the first aid kit. All hotels are supposed to carry a basic one in the kitchen."

She scurried away quickly, leaving with me my hand on my chin. The time she was not gone too long though and kit in hand, she sat back down next to me to go to work. "Alright now listen Nate, first thing I'm going to have to do is disinfect the wound. I've got these wipes here." She held up the paper package and tore it open. "This will clean it all up so you don't get an infection. After that hopefully the bleeding will be about done by that time. I wish I could get you into a hospital to get you stitched up but I guess we'll just have to make do with you leaving tomorrow. I'll have to use a couple bandages and close it up as best I can."

I simply nodded and let her get to work. As she started to use the disinfecting wipe I cringed a little from the sting, but managed to stay quiet. Quickly, she finished up and began applying the curved bandages to the wounded region. Once that was done she took a large pad of gauze and applied it over the whole region. "Just so you don't get blood anywhere." Emma said as her work now done, she stood up and threw the remains in the trash before closing up the miniature plastic kit.

"There, how are you feeling?"

"Not too bad thanks to you, definitely appreciate the help. Plus you smashing that guy over the head back there was pretty nice too." I gave a big grin. "I'm really sorry I ruined your night, those guys showing up there wasn't really something I was expecting to happen."

"Well, it wasn't the best date to be brutally honest. Not the worst either, believe it or not. You certainly know how to show a girl an exciting time though Nate." She leaned over and gave me a light punch on the shoulder. "I still didn't get dinner though and it would be poor form to keep your date hungry you know?"

I gave a little laugh. During the whole thing I had forgotten that we never got our food. "Well we can't have that now can we?" Pondering for a moment, I snapped my fingers as an idea came into my mind. "Well, I can't take you out anywhere in this condition and with the possibility that the Reds might be watching the hotel exits, but what do you say we order room service? You could pick out a movie on the hotel rental service to watch and we can try and salvage the night. What do you think about that?"

"You know what I think? I think you just want to snuggle up next to me on the couch." Emma leaned forward and stated in a teasing tone of voice.

"I just can't get anything past you can I?"

"Well, I don't have anything better to do so I guess I could keep you company for a little while longer, you need somebody with a nurse's touch to make sure that cut doesn't get worse."

I grinned at the innuendo as I sat on the couch. "Now that doesn't sound too bad at all. I'll order up a pizza and some drinks and we can share if that sounds good to you. It's not Joey's but at least it's still Italian right?"

"I don't think hotel food quite compares to Joey's but it'll have to do." She gave a light laugh. "You might want to change out of those clothes though. Don't want to scare the poor delivery boy with your blood covered shirt." I looked down at the now ruined shirt and heading into the back I grabbed some shorts and a t-shirt out of my backpack before quickly changing out of my dirtied outfit and into the fresh one. "Hey while you're back there, you wouldn't happen to have some extra clothing I could change into? This dress isn't exactly the most comfortable thing to sit down and watch a movie in."

"Sure thing, just hold on a second and I'll be right out." Rooting around through the bag a bit more I pulled out a grey pair of sweatpants and a plain white t-shirt. Stepping out of the room, I tossed them over to my lounging companion. "Here, try these on. The sweats will definitely be big on you but there's a drawstring inside to tighten it up a bit so that should help."

"Ok, thanks." Getting up from her spot she walked into the bathroom, closing the door behind her. I figured I'd call the room service while waiting for the brunette to change. Who knows how long that was gonna take. Picking up the phone, I talked to the hotel receptionist and relayed the order to her. After confirming our room number and that the order was indeed correct, I hung up and began the twenty-minute wait for the food to be prepared and delivered.

**LINE BREAK**

"So what do you want to watch?" Remote in hand and pepperoni pizza slice in the other, I scrolled through the choices available on the large holographic display on the wall.

The sweatpants and t-shirt had fit Emma ok despite the obvious fact that they were a tad bit on the large side due to the fact that I was six foot two and she was pushing five four on a good day. As she came out of the bathroom wringing out her long brown hair tied up in a ponytail into a towel I fought a losing battle not to laugh as she walked over to the couch, practically swimming in the pants. The result was her turning red, telling me to be quiet and a large, wet bath towel hitting me smack dab in the face. She threw pretty well for a girl too I grudgingly conceded. The pizza guy arrived while I was cleaning my face off and after giving the man his money we settled in for the night.

"There's a new rom-com that come out a little while ago that I really wanted to see. All my girlfriends saw it and they said it was great. Plus, Blake Johnson is the lead actor in it and he is a total hunk."

Mentally sighing at the inevitable result, I found the movie she was talking about and selected it. Yes, I'm sure I want to be charged ten dollars. Yes I'm sure that I'm sure. It's like the machine was trying to tell me something. Bail out now while you still can! Save yourself!

Finally, after hitting play, I ran around the room and shut off the lights. With the room now engulfed in darkness I snatched a large cover from the bed and took a seat on the couch next to Emma. Holding the cover open towards her she moved in close and placed her head on my shoulder. "Thanks Nate. Despite everything going bad I had a really good time tonight with you. You'll stay in touch even after you leave right?"

"Sure thing, I'll write you as often as you want me to. And despite everything going bad, I had a really good time with you too. Even though I could've done without the being held at gunpoint."

We settled in and watched the movie in silence. The plot was a pretty typical rom-com of the girl who's engaged to a guy and then she goes back home, her childhood flame shows up and crazy shit starts to happen. I was surprised to find myself actually enjoying the film, even though I never would have admitted it to any of my male friends on risk of losing credibility as a tough guy. The company I was with is probably what did it I found myself thinking. I even reluctantly admitted that the actor was indeed, "hunky," in a blonde, pretty boy kind of way.

After the movie was over, Emma teased me for a bit about liking the film before deciding to stay for a bit longer as we continued watching television. After a couple of hours I looked at my shoulder and found that she had fallen asleep. Moving carefully and tucking a stray piece of hair that had fallen into her eyes behind her ear, I gingerly picked her up and walked her over to the bed. After arranging the pillows with my free hand, I set her down and pulled the covers up over her arms and almost up to her neck, tucking her in for the night. After grabbing unused pillows from the other side of the bed and a spare cover that wasn't in use I ambled over to the couch and after arranging everything satisfactorily surrendered to the sleep which came almost instantaneously.

**A/N: Holy crap, I remember writing this 8k chapter back when I was in an arm sling…that was not fun. So this is the longest chapter I've ever written hands-down. I had no intentions of making it this long but once I was writing things just started to flow really nicely together.**

**Also…first fight sequence! Even though it was short, I had a lot of fun writing it and though it will be a little while 'till the next big fight there should be a couple along the way to keep things interesting.**

**Oh and I was just going through my chapters and due to actually having free time once I knocked out midterm's I was able to crank out some chapters and I now have over a half year in terms of backlog. Even for my massive levels of conservativeness when it comes to that, it's definitely overkill. So starting next week I'll be posting twice a week, Tuesday and Friday, until it gets down to about a dozen chapter backlog instead of the twenty-six that I have now. Hurray for more words!**

**Welp, another chapter rewritten. There was actually a lot less to fix in this one so hopefully it'll stay that way.**

**Unity9: I can definitely say that Wolf, while not reaching Shepard levels, will become somewhat known in certain circles. Whether that's positive or negative remains to be seen ;)**

**And as for more people reading it. When I started writing this it was basically just practice as I started college. So I'm glad you're enjoying it so far and I hope some other people are too but the reviews, favs, and follows, while they always make me smile when I get one, aren't why I'm writing. I've always hated English classes in the past and been more of a math guy, but this story's actually made me enjoy the act of writing which is **_**really**_** saying something in my case.**


	6. Waiting for the Bus

**Wolf in Shepard's Clothing**

**Chapter 6: Waiting for the Bus**

I woke up the next morning stretching out to combat the effects of sleeping on a hotel couch. Quickly I figured out that the pain from knife wounds doesn't really go away that quickly. How the hell did Dax keep it together after being shot? I think I would have been crying like a little kid, the dude's tough as hell.

My chin was still throbbing like crazy even though the bleeding had long since stopped thanks to Emma's efforts last night. Heading into the bathroom I looked over to see that the spot where my female companion had slept last night was now conspicuously absent. I sighed mentally, well it was fun while it lasted, and she probably had to go to work or something. It was eight in the morning after all, the average person probably was working, or on their way to work right now.

Looking in the bathroom mirror, I went through the routine I did every morning. I brushed my teeth, shaved the tiny bits of stubble I was able to grow, took a shower, etc, etc. I was just stepping out of the shower, and had only put on athletic shorts when a knock on the door interrupted my preparations for my beginning as a military man.

"Hold on a sec, I'll be right there." I opened the door, surprised to find Emma at the doorstep, holding a couple plates of food and cups of juice.

"You going to let me in or should I eat out here in the hallway?" She teased with a grin while delicately balancing the assorted foods and drinks.

"Here let me help you with some of that before you drop it." I grabbed a plate and drink and set them down on the kitchen table. "Sorry, I would've left the door open if I had known you were coming back. I just thought you had taken off for work or something like that."

"Come on now, you think I would've left without saying goodbye? At the very least I was going to check on your wound before I took off.

"I really appreciate your help last night. It still hurts quite a bit but the bandage held nicely and I think the wound's well on the way to closing up."

"No problem at all." She flashed another cheery smile. "I was going to wait for you to grab some chow but I figured with the fight and everything last night you could use your beauty sleep."

"With this new scar I think I'll need all the beauty sleep I can get, all kidding aside though, thanks again." Sitting down at the table we both began to dig in to the assorted breakfast foods. I paused from the bacon I was devouring for just a moment and looking over to my tablemate I gave a big grin. "You know, I think I could get used to this. Waking up with a beautiful woman bringing you breakfast. Life just doesn't get much better does it?"

"I figured you'd appreciate the feminine company on your last day as a civilian. We do have to hurry up a bit though, the bus comes through at nine on the way to California and I figured since my aircar is here and I've got to head in for work anyway I'd drive you over to the recruitment center. If that's ok with you of course."

"Yeah, that sounds nice. I'm just about done here anyway so let me go change into some warmer clothes and then we can go." I poked my head back out from the other room and adopted a faux-stern tone. "No peeking now!"

I retreated into the bathroom and quickly changed into dark wash jeans, a tee and a Detroit Phalanx hoodie to complete the ensemble. After the switch I exited the bathroom and re-joined Emma. "You ready to go Nate?"

"Sure thing. Let's head to the lobby."

**LINE BREAK**

I had just finished checking out of the hotel when I was interrupted by a familiar voice. "Hey Nate."

"Jack? That you." I surveyed the hotel lobby, before spotting my middle-aged guardian who had just walked in through the lobby doors with a grin on his face.

"'Course it's me. You thought I was just gonna let you leave for the Alliance without saying goodbye kid? After all the trouble you put me through these last few years I don't think so." He pulled me into a hug that felt like it probably cracked a couple ribs. Even though I had him in height by a couple inches the old man still was built like a tank. It'd been years since Jack's days in the military but I had a feeling he hadn't lost much of his combat prowess.

I coughed from the pressure on my chest. "I'm really glad you're here Jack but I'm kinda having trouble breathing right now." Chuckling lowly, he eased up and looked me in the eye. "So, what's up?"

"I just wanted to tell you some things before you go. It'll be five years so just remember to always work hard, listen to your CO and you'll do fine. If you can rein that mouth of yours in I think you can be one hell of a soldier Nate." He gave a big grin and his brown eyes twinkled a bit in mirth. "And besides, with my outstanding training you've already got a leg up on the rest."

I simply laughed in response before pulling the ex-soldier into another hug. "I'm glad you caught me stealing all those years ago. I don't know where I'd be now if you hadn't so just thanks…Dad."

There's a lot of cheesy movie quotes about family being more than just the people you share bloodlines with but in this case I really felt it was true. Jack was closer to me than anybody else I had ever known, he protected and watched out for me growing up. Isn't that what a family does for each other? Even if you don't particularly like that person that day they're still there just because it's the right thing to do. Through the ups and downs you know that person has your back, that's what a true family member is, whether or not you share ancestries. Well that's what Jack was to me. Funny how it took leaving for me to realize everything the old bastard meant.

"I'll miss you kid, now go on before you make me tear up." He let me go from the hug and held out his hand to shake. I took the man's calloused palm in my own and gripped hard, trying to avoid crying. Before exiting the building I turned towards Jack.

"Don't worry, I'm gonna make you proud pops."

Smiling, he waved me goodbye. "It's alright Nate, you already have."

Walking out of the building to where Emma was waiting in her bright blue aircar I hopped in next to her and buckled up. She looked over to me and gave a friendly smile as we left the lot. "I figured you two could use a couple minutes to say goodbye without me interrupting."

"Thanks for that. I hope I didn't make you late or anything. I'll talk to your boss if you need me to and let him know it's all my fault."

The petite brunette gave a dismissive wave. "Nah, we'll still be there on time, it's alright."

**LINE BREAK**

As we pulled up to the recruitment center I noticed the airbus was parked out front waiting while a few young men and women of all races and almost without exception in their late teens or early twenties. I stepped out of the car and before heading to the bus walked over to Emma. Leaning down to her height I pulled her close and gave a firm but gentle hug.

"I had a really good time these last couple days Em. I'm glad I got to know you a little bit before I take off. I don't know what my schedule will be like but I'll give you a call or message you whenever I get a chance."

"Ok Nate, stay safe out there alright?" She let me go and stood on her tiptoes and gave a quick peck on the cheek with her ruby lips. "Now go get 'em soldier-boy."

She turned me around and gave a friendly shove towards the waiting bus which was painted, of course, in an Alliance blue, with a bit of gold ringing around the middle of the vehicle. I stepped towards the vehicle eagerly towards a woman waiting with her omni-tool open.

"Name. Birthdate."

Standing up tall I answered back to the woman. "Nathan Drake Wolfert, born June twenty-five, nineteen fifty-seven." She messed with her omni-tool a bit before finding my name and highlighting a personal information file. Angling it so that I could see the screen she indicated for me to look everything over and make sure that it was correct. I looked over, mentally talking it out just to make sure that everything looked good.

Let's see here. Height is six two, weight one eighty-five, well that looks right. Brown for both the eyes and hair, good there. Listed address is ten seventy five Tenth Street, Jack's place, and the parents are Richard Chandler and Katrina Wolfert. Well, that's interesting. Never knew my Father's name. But everything was right as far as I could tell so looking to the woman I indicated that everything was spot on.

"Alright step on in then." As I walked up the stairs and into the vehicle I heard her from behind. "Hey Mike, that's the last one so go ahead when they're all set."

Pausing for a moment I looked around the bus, searching for an empty spot. The bus was almost filled to the brim with young people, their faces a mixture of eagerness, nervousness and a bit of apprehension. I kept walking until I saw an empty spot next to a young blonde guy about my age who was messing with his shaggy blonde hair. I pointed toward the empty seat. "Hi, this spot taken?"

He moved over and pointed towards the empty seat. "Not anymore it's not." I took the empty spot next to him and he extended his hand. "Name's Woley, Mitchell Woley. You can just call me Mitch though, everybody else does."

Shaking the outstretched hand I responded in kind. "Nice to meet you Mitch, I'm Nathan Wolfert." I paused for a moment searching for a way to make conversation. "So…you from the states here?"

"Nope." He shook his head. "I'm actually a colony kid myself. Parents moved out to Terra Nova when it first got colonized in fifty-two, same year they got married and then they had me four years later. Mom's always been like that, full of adventure and wanting to do something new. I've never actually set foot on Earth 'till yesterday night when the shuttle landed, been on Nova my whole life prior to that. It's been cool seeing the home world though, even just stateside the geography's so different from place to place. Don't get me wrong, home's beautiful and all but things are pretty much the same there no matter where you're at. The middle of the planet's a huge desert, and the top and bottom are forests where it's not city." He turned the question back to me. "How about you? You're from around here I take it?"

"Yeah, I've been living here in Detroit my whole life. Never actually set foot outside the city limits believe it or not. Didn't have the credits to go much of anywhere." My curiosity returned back to the colonies though and I quizzed Mitch again. "So what's it like there, things much different on Terra Nova than here?"

"From what my parents said about Earth when I was a kid not really. You've got to worry about pirate attacks at some of the more remote colonies but Terra's so populated now that the slavers wouldn't dare screw with us since the militias there would knock 'em on their ass pretty quick. But yeah, I'd say overall the day-to-day is pretty much the same, we've got colleges out there, the same kinds of jobs and all that, so not too big a difference at all. We'll get the occasional alien out there too which is cool, mostly turians but I've met a couple asari and salarians. I like hearing them tell stories about the Citadel and council space, after I'm done with my time in the Corps I think I'm gonna move there."

"Funny that even on completely different planets the day-to-day's still pretty much the same. Scenery's a little different though, we don't get too many aliens coming through Detroit. I did get to know a Turian a little bit before leaving, pretty cool guy, plus I've seen an asari once and other that though it's all just stuff I've read off the 'net". I cocked my head in confusion at one of the things Mitch had mentioned though. "Isn't the Citadel where the council is? I know a little bit about it but most humans stick to Earth or the colonies from what I've heard."

"Yeah, that's right. The number of humans on the Citadel is growing pretty rapidly though and I've always been interested in learning about the different species. I took a couple courses in alien cultures when I was getting my bachelor's at Scott U." He paused for a moment before realizing something. "Oh, that's the capitol's junior college, we live just outside the city limits on a nice plot of land out there."

"Sounds nice, I've never really had much of an opportunity to study myself and things were a bit rough growing up so I hardly know anything about the different species, you'll have to give me a run-down sometime." I paused for a moment before continuing. "Oh and I should probably give you a heads-up that I happen to be a bit of an idiotic smart-ass so I apologize in advance." He gave a grin at that. "I just can't help myself sometimes, my mouth works faster than my brain so if I just start saying stupid stuff feel free to ignore me or tell me to shut up. Both are fine and most people around me have to resort to it regularly so don't feel bad if you feel the need to. I won't take offense."

He waved me off. "Don't worry about it. I've been told by my friends that I have a slight problem with sarcasm myself so we can be snark buddies."

"Snark buddies. I like the sound of that." I thought back to what he was saying about relationships before we went off on that tangent. "So, your family sounds really nice. You have any brothers or sisters?"

"Yeah, I've got a little sister, she's turning eighteen in a couple weeks. She was pissed 'cuz I'm going to miss her birthday this year since I'll be planets away." He smiled, grinning at what I assumed was a memory running through his head. "Damn I'm gonna miss her. We used to fight like cats and dogs, still do actually now that I think about it, instead it's just verbally now. Always had each other's backs though, and that's what counts right? I remember her getting into a fight with this other girl in her grade back in grade school. The girl said that I was short and that her older brother would kick the shit out of me, I'm paraphrasing but the gist of the thing is the same. Well, anyway, since I'd rather not go into details about how my little sister beat the crap out of her I'll just leave it at that she went to the principal's office and the other girl went to the nurse's office first."

"Damn, your sister sounds like she has a bit of a temper, no offence intended of course."

"None taken, she's always been the wild child of us two while I've been more of the laid back type of guy. Mom studied some different forms of self-defense back in the day and she taught us a couple tricks so when we did get into fights, we could handle ourselves." He leaned back into the seat and sighed before turning to look at me. "So what about you? Any brothers or sisters?"

"Nope, I'm an only child and an orphan."

He recoiled a bit. "Oh man, I didn't know. I'm really sorry for bringing it up. Never mind, just forget I said anything."

"No no, don't be." I tried to put him back at ease. "There wasn't any way you could've known. It was a long time ago that things went south, so I don't want to sound callous but I'm over it, for lack of a better term. I lived on the streets for a while 'till I was thirteen and got taken in by an ex-alliance Marine who runs a weapons and armor shop. He pretty much raised me up after that, taught me how to shoot a pistol, use a knife, my fists too if I have to. The area I grew up in wasn't the best so I pretty much had to just out of self-preservation."

I chuckled a bit just thinking over some of the memories of Jack I had. "He definitely wasn't the softest guy as you could guess from his background but he was fair about things. Tried his best to rein me in from some of the dumber shit I've pulled. Overall, he's just a good guy though which is as much as you can say about anybody I guess."

"Wow. I don't think our backgrounds could be any different if we tried." He thought for a short bit before turning back to me, "So why'd you sign up?"

As we flew through the air I detailed my last couple days in Detroit for Mitch. I told him about my history and final run-in with the Reds. Understandably, he was a bit skeptical of the whole thing up until I showed off my, "tattoo," courtesy of Curt Weisman and the knife wound on my chin which was still pretty nasty looking at this point. After that my tale seemed a bit more believable.

After I gave him the shortened version of me joining he ran through his life. Mitch's dad apparently was an architect for some pretty high-profile clients back on Terra Nova and wanted him to follow in his footsteps. That job, Mitch explained, never really held an appeal though as he quit the specialized college course he was in out of pure boredom. He wanted to go places and do things and the Alliance seemed like the best opportunity to reasonably do that.

"Wow, that's a little bit of a difference in the job title I'd say. Going straight from architect to Marine."

Cracking a slight smile, he continued. "Guess I just got sick of being pigeonholed into doing something that I had no passion for and was searching for something else when it hit me. I saw some Alliance advertisements and I guess the marketing worked since I thought to myself, 'I want to do that,' and I signed up the next day much to the chagrin of my dad. Mom was pretty cool about it though and we both talked to pops and convinced him into the thing. She was always able to talk him into anything. Really, I think she just wanted sis and me to be happy, as long as we were doing what we loved we had her support."

"That's great man, it sounds like you've got an awesome family to come back home too."

"I definitely do." He was silent for a moment before his face lit up. "Did you see that interview with Lieutenant Shepard the other day?" He changed the subject. "I cannot believe the shit he went through and came out the other side. That guy is fricking amazing, became an Alliance military hero slash poster boy overnight."

"Hell yeah I did." I exclaimed loudly. "That same interview pretty much convinced me to join up when I was trying to get things straightened out on what I wanted to do. The guy sounds like a badass from what I heard."

"I mean he basically single-handedly organized a resistance and held off a force with both superior numbers and firepower with whatever he could scrounge up. The guy didn't even wear armor for crying out loud! You've got to be either brave as hell or just full on batshit insane to pull a stunt like that." He shook his head. "It's tough enough to organize a group of soldiers, I can't imagine getting civilians like us into the fight and managing to help them stand their ground too." He shook his head. "Guy's got the total package for a military leader, he looks the part, can inspire confidence in just about anybody and he's one of the only humans to ever hit a six on the biotic strength scale."

"Yeah, he's definitely something alright." My mind wandered to newfound possibilities. "How many biotic tiers are there? I just got tested back at the center and apparently I have potential so I was curious."

"Six. I think a three's about the average. I studied about it a bit after that interview and there's an article that summarizes it pretty well. I could send it over to you if you'd like."

I nodded vehemently. "Definitely, I know next to nothing about biotics and I want to find out all that I can before I have to actually go into training. So yeah, it'd be much appreciated."

"Alright, just hold on a second then. I'll pull it up on my 'tool." Mitch opened up the display, which instead of the usual bright orange was instead a dark blue. He rapidly started manipulating the screen and it wasn't long before a ding from my own omni-tool signaled a new message.

As I opened up the link he had sent I queried him a bit. "So what'd you do to your omni-tool? I haven't seen one before in that color. Is that a specialized model or something?"

He opened the display back up, beaming proudly the whole time, clearly excited at the opportunity to share some knowledge. "Nope, this is just the stock model but I've modified it quite a bit in the last few years. I really enjoy dabbling a bit with tech as a side-hobby and this baby's been optimized to run quicker, more efficiently and, as for the color." He gave a little shrug. "I just like blue better so I tweaked the internals to show a blue display instead of that garish bright orange. I guess you could just say I'm a bit of a tech geek since I've liked doing this kind of stuff since I was little. Always been interested in how everyday things that we take for granted works."

"Wow, I know if my omni-tool broke for whatever reason I would have absolutely no idea what to do since I don't know shit about tech, that's a pretty handy skill to have though."

I started scrolling through the article Mitch had forwarded over to me. He was right in that three was the average for a biotic in the military. Someone rated as a one wasn't really capable of much other than lifting a glass of water for example. The twos are actually capable of erecting a barrier on themselves and using up to seven hundred newtons of force. The average tier three could double that with forces hitting almost fourteen hundred newtons. Biotics of this tier are often classified as "vanguards," and when in close can do some heavy damage as their biotics are capable of erecting strong barriers to soak up fire and still throw enemy forces around. The fourth tier was classified as being similar to the third, with the main difference being in that they can use the technique commonly known as "warp." The fifth, known as "adepts," are usually sent straight into the N7 program as their biotic expertise enables them to use any form of biotics that they take the time to learn. Their sheer strength allows them to turn the tide of battles when used strategically simply because of their sheer mastery of all things biotic. The rarest of all forms is tier six. Biotics of this class are almost godlike in their power, especially because of the rarity in their numbers. All T6'ers have been enrolled into the Ascension Project which is run through Grissom Academy.

After reading that info dump I felt a bit more secure just because of the fact that it was a bit less unknown now. You wouldn't believe it but being told that you might be able to throw shit around with your mind, while being extremely cool, is also a bit frightening. I looked over at Mitch who looked like he was starting to nod off a bit.

"Hey don't feel like you have to stay up and chat with me if you're tired man. Get some rest and thanks for sending that info, my curiosity is a bit lower now." Simply nodding in a weary response he leaned his head against the windows of the airbus, propping his jacket up against it to act as a makeshift pillow and nodded off almost immediately. "Well I guess I might as well do the same thing."

**A/N: What's this, WiSC on a Tuesday?! *Dramatic chord* So this begins my twice a week postings on Tuesdays and Fridays. If I had to guess I'd say it'll probably be this way at least 'till year's end and then after that I'll see where I'm at.**

**As of Monday morning this story's now hit 1k+ views so big thanks to all you guys that have read so far and I hope you've enjoyed it. I'm extremely flattered that so many of you have taken a few minutes out of your day to read my little project. Hopefully all of you stick with it because this thing is just getting started and it definitely improves as it goes. Reading the stuff I wrote even just a few months ago I can definitely see a difference quality-wise.**

**Huge thanks goes to unity9 who's reviewed just about everything so far and if you're looking for another story to read then go to his profile and check out, "****Infinite Galaxy****," it's a crossover between Bioshock Infinite and Mass Effect. I've really enjoyed it so far and I think you will too if you're a fan of the two games like me.**

**Thanks also goes to mivpus. The six biotic tiers was an idea that he so kindly let me use from his kickass SI series War of the Gods.**

**Also, on an unrelated note if you're a DA: Origins fan and like stories about it then go read, "Wardens," by Thaeonblade. To summarize, all six of the warden backgrounds are saved by Duncan and the story is equal parts awesome and hilariously crazy. If you like a story that doesn't take itself too seriously then this is for you.**

**Unity9: It's funny you mentioned gaining notoriety. I'll leave a slight look into the future and say that it's in a similar vein as the way Booker does in yours. Glad you liked the fight scene too, it was my first time writing a combat sequence and I know I definitely enjoyed writing some non-dialogue for a change.**


	7. I Wish They All Could be Cali Soldiers

I was jostled roughly out of my sleep by my seatmate Mitch. "Hey they just said over the PA that we're ten minutes out buddy." He gave me another shake and sighed. "C'mon, wake up."

Yawning loudly, I stretched out although I was careful not to hit my blonde new friend even if I might've felt like doing it as retribution for rousing me from slumber. Leaning forward and looking out the window, I surveyed the vast change of scenery. Gone were the urban skyscrapers and city streets, in its place was desert as far as the eye could see.

"Sorry about that, I hope you weren't too bored on the ride over. I guess last night tired me out more than I thought."

He cracked a big shit-eating grin. "Yeah who'd have thought getting chased all night and then getting into a knife fight would wear a guy out? I never would have figured."

I chuckled at his sarcastic reply. "Yeah, I can't really argue with that."

"How's the chin doing?"

I messed with the bandage a bit at his mentioning it and readjusted it so it was still stuck fast. "Still hurts a bit but not too shabby overall, it's a hell of a lot better than it was yesterday that's for sure. I've had that kinda stuff happen before, never on the face or anything, but growing up I had my fair share of scrapes I got into and a couple knife wounds. I'll get a pretty sweet scar out of it though so that's another positive. I should get stabbed more often."

"Hey you know what they say, chicks dig scars right?" He paused for a moment. "Although I really don't believe that at all. I mean what's so attractive about a big, ragged line on your face? Maybe it's just something guys tell themselves to boost their ego a little bit."

"Hey I like my cut! Don't insult the new scar. My chest is already all screwed up with the brand and everything, now my face is gonna be messed up too so don't deal another blow to my manly pride. What do I have left if my moneymaker is ruined now too?" I feigned hurt and turned away from Mitch but couldn't contain the laughter. "Well, I gotta tell myself something right?"

Mitch opened his mouth up to speak but was interrupted by the bus shaking. It seemed like every single occupant of the bus turned to look out their respective window as the camp came into view below. Even from this height I saw recruits being drilled and run through their daily training. As we touched down static from the PA kicked in as the driver spoke up. "Do not move out of your seat. The Drill Instructors will be here to dismiss you alphabetically so, again, do not get out of your seat unless you'd like an early dismissal and a ticket back home."

The bus doors open and a short fiery looking redheaded woman flanked on her right by two black haired men, entered the vehicle. The one on her right, probably in his mid-forties, was shorter and rugged looking with what looked like three claw marks that went from just above his lip to touching his jet-black hair that was tinged with a bit of grey. The one on the left looked about fifteen years younger and was tall enough that even at my six foot two frame I would have to look up to make eye contact.

After staring us down with her critical looking green eyes for what felt like an eternity but was really about seven or eight seconds the woman spoke up. "Welcome to Camp Pendleton recruits. My name is Senior Drill Instructor Lieutenant Commander Madeline Jackson. You will refer to me and the two men with me by our titles at all times." She pointed to the scarred man. "This is Experienced Drill Instructor Staff Lieutenant William Speirs, veteran of the First Conflict War, recipient of the Star of Terra for his actions in battle and former N7 operative." The man gave a small nod. "And this mountain of a man is Assistant Drill Instructor First Lieutenant Kerry Dixon, he's quickly risen through the ranks and is renowned among the Marines for his ferocity in both hand-to-hand combat and biotics as well as his tactical genius. If I see or hear that anyone of you disrespect either of these men you will be out of here on your ass faster than you can say 'Yes ma'am,' are we understood?"

A chorus of disjointed "Yes ma'am's" rang throughout the bus.

"We'll work on that." She started pacing as she spoke with both hands tucked behind her back. "Now listen up, over the next thirteen weeks my job, along with these gentleman, is to turn you little kids from civilians into an elite fighting force. And so help me God I will do it if it kills me. I will say right now that the training will be the toughest thing you've gone through in your life and, unless you have the skill to go into N training afterwards, which I hope all of you aspire to, ever will be." As she walked past she turned to look at me before pausing her pacing of the aisle. "Recruit stand up and tell me your name."

As quickly as I could on dead legs that were stiff and sore from the long ride I stood up straight and tucked both arms behind my back. "Nathaniel Wolfert Senior Drill Instructor…ma'am."

Even though the woman was at least a half foot shorter than me I somehow felt like she was looking down at me. "What in the hell happened to your face recruit?"

I quickly decided to tell a slightly tweaked version of the story. It's not lying if you just happen to leave out parts of the story right? "Got in a fight last night. I was with a girl and we were attacked by muggers. I told her to take off while I stayed behind to fight the three men. One of the three had a knife and got in a swipe before I could take him down Senior Drill Instructor Ma'am."

She took a step closer, making me curious as to what she was going to do. Before I could even blink she ripped off the bandage and held it aloft for the entirety of the bus to see. "You see this recruits?" She threw it down and ground it out with her foot. "After this training you will not be getting stabbed by random muggers like, 'Bandage Boy,' over here." She turned to me. "You can sit down recruit."

"Yes ma'am." I took my seat back next to Woley and as she continued her pacing down the bus I looked over to see that he was just holding back the laughter from coming out.

He leaned over and as he laughed softly whispered into my ear. "Nice job…'Bandage Boy,' First knife fights and now we just get here and you're already getting singled out huh? I can already tell that hanging with you is going to be exciting at the least."

"Hah. Very funny." I lowered my head in disgust at the new nickname. Somehow it's always me that gets into the kinds of things.

Drill Instructor Jackson continued speaking. "Now listen, I am going to start dismissing you soon but first I am going to detail the first few steps you are going to do. There will not be an instructor breathing over your shoulder so listen up because these instructions are not going to be repeated. Step one, after you are dismissed you will report to your room and change into the fatigues that will be located there. There are separate male and female bunk houses and if any of you are found in the other genders rooms you will be gone immediately. Each of you will share your room with three other recruits, you're all big boys and girls now so figure out the bunk situation on your own. Step two, you will report to the barbers and get a haircut so you look less like raggedy ass bums and more like disciplined soldiers. Step three, you will leave all your personal effects in your room, including omni-tools, and they will be taken and kept in a safe spot where they will remain in safety until after you graduate from this camp. After you change and are given haircuts you will step outside of your house and then the next instructions will begin. Understood?" This time a more unified chorus of, "yes ma'am's," was heard. "That's a bit better." At that moment, Assistant D.I. Lieutenant Dixon stepped forward and began to read off names and the room they were assigned to.

**LINE BREAK**

I waited as the surnames drew closer to my own. Eventually he started going through the "V's  
>and I got ready to stand up. "House four, room seventeen…occupants are as follows: Vandel, Vega, Woley, Wolfert." I stood up and bumped straight into a brawny Hispanic looking guy who was about my age.<p>

"Hey, watch where you're stepping amigo."

I just scoffed and pulled what, looking back, was probably a dumb move as I should have realized that this was to be one of my new roommates and now was probably not the best time for a smart ass comment. "Watch yourself, amigo." Putting an extra emphasis on the last word. "The Marines might not be the best option if you're this naturally clumsy buddy."

"What the hell'd you say?" The man, either Vega or Vandel and due to his clearly Hispanic features I was guessing Vega, said angrily. And somehow, he looked even bigger than before. The only thing that saved me before I could respond and get the crap kicked out of me less than twenty minutes into my new career was the diminutive form of Mitchell Woley who pushed me towards the exit at the front of the bus.

"Let's go you moron. First day here and you're on the bad side of one of the biggest guys in the whole damn camp. I guess I did say that things around you seem to stay interesting. Hanging out with you is totally gonna bite me in the ass, I can just see it now."

I was interrupted by a female voice from behind. "Recruit, come over here." I told Mitch that I'd catch up with him in a bit before walking over. Standing there was the female drill instructor Madeline Jackson along with the scarred man known as Lieutenant Spiers. "What really happened to your chin? I get that you don't want to embarrass yourself on your first day here but that story sounds like a bunch of horse shit. So tell me what actually happened now that we're not around all the other recruits or so help me I will have you out of here before you can say 'knife fight.'"

"No Senior Drill Instructor, that's the true story. I was on a date and when we left I saw we were being tailed by three rough-looking guys so I told her to get ahead to the hotel I was staying at and I stayed behind to fight the thugs. The first guy came around the corner and I swung and hit him in the neck with my elbow."

Spiers spoke up for the first time and his voice was every bit as raspy as I imagined it would be and he had a slight southern drawl that I picked up on immediately. "So you clotheslined the bastard?"

"Yes sir Drill Instructor, that's about right. The second guy came around right about that time and swung at me wildly which I blocked before punching him in the gut a couple times and then smashing his head on my knee." Jackson gave a small, pleased chuckle at that which, I can't lie, made me the slightest bit nervous about my prospects for the future, before waving for me to continue with the story. "Guy number three came about that time and caught me on the chin with his knife. We traded blows a couple times and then he telegraphed that he was trying that same move again so I side-stepped him, tossed him over my shoulder, pinned his knife-arm with my foot and then knocked him out with a few punches.

The red-headed woman spoke up again. "Well, nice job then recruit it'd be a pity to lose a potential Marine on the very night before he leaves to a couple street thugs."

"Thank you ma'am but." I shifted my position a bit in embarrassment as I prepared to finish the rest of my story. "That's not it, remember that first guy? Well he got back up and put me in a headlock that I couldn't get out of, the guy was a beast. So I went slack and then when he loosened up a bit I smashed my head into his face. He recoiled a couple steps and then pulled a gun on me."

The lieutenant interrupted. "Why didn't he just shoot you in the first place? No offence recruit."

"None taken Drill Instructor. And yes I actually asked him that but right about that time the girl I was with came back, luckily for me, and busted a chair over the mugger's head." I smiled broadly at the memory of him slumping over and the fact that I wasn't going to be shot full of holes.

The two instructors grinned before Speirs spoke up again. "That sounds like my kind of girl. Say, where'd you learn to fight son? You have any training before this?"

"Informally sir, I was raised by an ex-alliance soldier after I was orphaned and he taught me a bit about fighting and shooting."

"What's his name if you don't mind my asking?"

"Jack Ramsey."

To my great surprise he busted up laughing at that answer and continued on for a bit while I stood by in silence and a knowing smirk crossed Instructor Jackson's face. "You've got to be shitting me recruit. Next time you talk to old, "Deadshot," you tell him that, "Nemesis," said hey alright?" I gave a slightly confused "yes sir," and a messy salute as he walked away. The other instructor, First Lieutenant Dixon I reminded myself, walked off the bus as he finished his task of getting the recruits on their way to their respective new homes. Speirs pointed back at me over his shoulder as he passed the larger man. "You've got a recruit after your own heart over there LT, likes getting into fistfights in his spare time against groups of guys solo."

Kerry Dixon walked over with a big smile on his face and requested for the story to be told again before Madeline cut him off. "Not now Bruiser, he just told the story to me and Scars over there and I don't want him to be late for his shave. I'll tell you the fight story if it makes you happy." She turned to me and shooed me out, her voice going back into her "Instructor" mode. "Now get the hell out of here recruit if you're late to exercises then you will be reprimanded swiftly. That's enough chit chat for a damn lifetime."

"Yes ma'am!"

I ran through the camp at pretty close to full speed until finding house four. Running up the steps two at a time I turned and opened the door to see what my living conditions for the next three months, approximately, would be. The room was spartan to the extreme, the only furniture being two rickety looking bunk beds on the walls opposite each other and if you walked into the back of the room there was a wooden desk with a single chair and a lamp.

I turned to Mitch who was in the middle of changing into fatigues that were a sort of dark khaki slash olive color mixture and a grey tee shirt with the Alliance logo on his left pectoral. "Well this is…nice." I hopped onto one of the beds, careful not to hit the metal bars of the top bunk. I was in the middle of stretching out when I noticed that we had been joined by what I assumed was to be our last bunkmate who had just finished pulling his own shirt over his head. I stood up and walked over, surveying the young man the whole time. He looked to be about the same age, somewhere between eighteen and twenty. As I walked closer I realized that once again I was having the unusual feeling of being dwarfed by another human being. The guy had me by at least four or five inches and while he didn't have an overly large build I could tell that he had the kind of wiry strength that goes with working with your hands every day of your life. His hair was slightly shaggy like mine and was a light brown shade somewhere in the color spectrum between Mitch's dirty blonde and my own black. His eyes were the thing that drew your attention though as unlike the usual brown associated with darker hair they were a piercingly clear sky blue.

As he walked closer to me he extended his hand and smiled in a very outgoing fashion. "Hey, nice to meet you gents. Name's Benjamin Vandel, you can call me Ben though." Similar to Instructor Speirs he had an accent that betrayed his Southern heritage, although if I had to compare them I'd say that Ben's was definitely heavier.

I reached out and took his hand, introducing myself. "Nice to meet you Ben. I'm Nate Wolfert, has the midget already introduced himself?" I turned to Mitch whose head had disappeared as he pulled his shirt on and in response he simply extended a particular finger out from underneath.

Both of us laughed for a bit before Ben replied that he had indeed been introduced to the little guy. "Oh." He reached behind him and pulled out pants and a shirt of the same design and also a pair of boots. "These are yours, the other guy, Jimmy Vega I think his name was, already grabbed his so these are what's left." He tossed the Alliance clothing over, which I caught and thanked him for. "I'll catch you guys later at drills. I'm gonna head downstairs and get my hair buzzed."

"Later Ben."

"See you Ben." He waved as he left the room and footsteps going downstairs were heard. I turned to Mitch who by now had finished and was full Alliance gear. "Well he seems cool. Two out of three isn't bad you know."

"Yeah it's funny how when you don't act like a dick to someone right off the bat they're a lot more inclined to be friendly towards you." He grabbed his chin and posed in a mock thoughtful way with one leg up on the chair by the desk. "Yeah, you know I never would have figured that out on my own."

I tossed the shirt up and pulled it over my head. "You know, sarcasm is a lot more funny when I'm the one doing it and not on the receiving end." He just gave me a "no, seriously? I never would have guessed," look. "Alright I'll admit, I **may **have overdone it with bumping into Vega and then insulting him right off the bat, I can admit that much at least. But I'm not going to apologize. It'd be much too embarrassing and I'd rather just deal with him not liking me. Besides, with us bunking in the same room, I'm sure I'll find other ways to make it up to him…and yes I just realized how that sounded as soon as I said it. I'm just going to leave now."

I stepped outside the room, shortly followed by Mitch, and since I was not quite sure where the hair cutting station was I simply followed the sound of a bunch of loud male talking. It didn't take too long to find the right place as every once in a while I would walk past a newly buzzed recruit with some different version of the few hairstyles you can have when you're basically completely bald. The racket grew louder until the sound of whining razors could be heard in the very next room. Opening the door, I examined the room to find the sight of a dozen or so potential Marines sitting down surrounded by the already shorn hair of previous recruits and now in various stages of getting their own hair done. The rest stood against the back wall socializing or simply leaning against it waiting for their turn in line. I waved Mitch over and then joined those standing up.

We waited about twenty minutes, in silence mostly, while the recruits around us walked up to the seats one by one. Eventually Mitch took one of the empty seats and the clippers went to town on his bushy blonde hair. I laughed quietly to myself at the distress on his face. He obviously took a lot of pride in his hair and put effort into keeping it nice. Now that it was being taken away from him it appeared like someone had walked up and punched him in the stomach, stolen his girlfriend and then kicked his dog just for giggles. After another minute or two of enjoying myself at Woley's expense while he glared daggers at me in the mirror every chance he got, an empty chair finally appeared and a guy in his older twenties sporting a tight fade waved me over.

"Alright go 'head and sit down." He pointed to his right where a sign of acceptable cuts were posted on the wall and I mulled it over for a few seconds, contemplating my new hairdo. "Pick your poison."

"I'll take that one." I selected one near the base of the poster and he gave a little nod and went to work almost immediately.

**LINE BREAK**

"Alright, and we are just about…finished."

The barber had just finished putting the finishing touches on my new hairstyle and he now stepped out of the way so I could see it in the mirror. I turned from side to side taking my time and observing the new look. The hurry to get everyone in was over as my little chat with the instructors had put me in the tail end of the pack of recruits getting a shave.

My head felt like it had been freed from a cage and weighed about fifty pounds less now that the majority of my hair was gone, that'll be great because I would not want to deal with all the running with a full head of hair. The entirety of my skull was now completely shaved down to near baldness except for a small black shock of hair running down the center of my head in a sort of toned down mohawk. The only difference was that instead of running down the entirety of my head to the neck it stopped at the back, before it began to slope downward.

After giving it a thorough examination I hopped out of the chair and started brushing off some of the excess hair that had fallen onto my shoulders. "Thanks for the cut man. What's the standard tipping fee?"

"Very funny wise guy, now get out of here and meet up with the rest of the recruits. First test is tonight so good luck and don't be late."

I gave a wave and a grin, which he returned, before running quickly through the recruit house and exiting through the front door. Apparently I was just in time, the recruits were lining up outside and D.I. Jackson looked like she was preparing to instruct the assembled men and women. "Listen up recruits the real training is going to begin right now. So before that happens there are three rules that I am going to pound into your head until you'll be saying them in your sleep." She raised a single finger. "Number one: you will not leave this base without a leave of absence given by me, or the two LT's, Speirs and Dixon. Bad things are going to happen to you if your number is called and you are not present. Number two: All communications with the outside world will be done through the computers located on the first floor of your individual house. Number three: If a C.O., that's commanding officer for you F.N.G.'s, gives an order you are to do it immediately, to the best of your ability and without question. Despite what you may think there is a reason for every single thing we do during this time. And finally, number four: you will not disrespect, backtalk or show contempt for your superior officers in any way. Is that understood?"

An ear-ringing chorus of "Yes ma'am," rang throughout the camp.

"Very good, now the first thing you all are going to complete is the Initial Strength Test. For the men you will run a mile and a half in thirteen point five minutes. You will then perform fifty crunches in two minutes. Lastly, from a dead hang you will perform two pull-ups. Ladies you will have fifteen minutes for the run. You will do a flex-arm hang for twelve seconds. The quota for crunches is exactly the same. You will be dismissed by individual house and at the end of your little run there will be instructors with a clipboard and you will yell your full name to him or her as you pass. It is your responsibility to make sure that your name and time are on that list. If you do not complete any of the tasks given you will be put into the Physical Conditioning Platoon and given another chance to complete the tasks at a later date but trust me, things will go so much better if you finish the first time."

"Now before you start since I know you recruits are just so eager to get underway I want to go over one more thing. If we are yelling at you it is not because we enjoy it, because it's our jobs, or hell, just because we just feel like it. We yell and scream because we see potential in you and know that you can do better. When we're done with these thirteen weeks of training we want you to be as ready as you can physically be to advance to the next stage of your Marine life. Now if you ladies and gentlemen are ready, let's get this shit show underway."

**A/N: Really don't have too much to say this time, at least compared to last chapter's novel of an A/N. Just thanks again for reading and I hope you guys have an awesome weekend.**

**Unity9: No problem, I've really liked reading your story so it turned from a kind of karmic, good unto good thing, into something enjoyable, pretty quickly.**


	8. Against the Wind

I'd just passed the half-mile marker and by my own estimation we were about four minutes into the run. The pack had now split into four distinct groups. Leading the charge was a group of about ten recruits in which I saw Mitch right at the front, practically spearheading the knot of runners that unfortunately included James Vega who was right behind him. I quickly looked back over my shoulder to the two clusters behind, the latter of which was struggling enormously and by my guess probably was not gonna make it in time. With a quick sigh I turned my attention back to the front and focused on finishing out the last mile under the deadline.

I hate running. It's just so boring. Without music or something else to keep me entertained I just can't handle the monotony. Raise your leg. Raise your other leg. Repeat indefinitely. I know I know, I get bored really easily. It's a big fault of mine but I always need to be doing something engaging and going out for a jog just doesn't do it for me. So, in an effort to relieve my aforementioned state of mine I looked around my own group of ladies and gents trying to keep myself occupied. Pretty quickly my eyes settled on a tall Southerner running ahead. At that height he was pretty hard to miss. I worked my way through the crowd of runners trying to sidle up besides Ben without knocking anyone out of the way too badly.

"Sorry. Excuse me. Coming through. Make a hole."

Besides the occasional dirty look and curse word thrown my way I made it through the group without incident. Looking over to the taller man, I noticed that his previously long hair was now cut into a tight buzzcut that highlighted his tanned features and strong jawline. He jogged effortlessly, even in the middle of the run he made it seem like he was just taking a leisurely stroll downtown. As I drew in almost right next to him he turned to face me and gave a big, friendly grin.

"What's up buddy? Long time no see." He thought for a moment. "It was Nate right?"

I returned the smile right back. "Yup, how's the run going so far for you Ben? Oh, and I'm digging the haircut. You pull off the close buzz nicely."

"Thanks," he gave a little chuckle, "didn't feel like doing anything too fancy with it so I told the guy to just get rid of it all." He ran his hand through the little hair that was now left on top of his head. "And, I've never been so aerodynamic in my life. Feel like I can run for days without stopping."

Now it was my turn to laugh. "You don't mind if I run with you right?" He shook his head to indicate that it suited him just fine. "Y'know since we met I've been wanting to ask you something."

"Shoot."

"Just how tall are you? Now, I'm no slouch myself when it comes to height, being six two, but you just dwarf me. You could pick me up and sling me over your shoulder if you wanted to. Which I really hope you don't since I'm having a hard enough time with running this freaking thing without being thrown by a giant."

"Well, I don't think I will just yet, so long as you keep that mouth of yours reigned in." He gave me another smirk to show that he was joking. Mostly, at least. "But about the height, I am currently six foot eight and still might grow a bit. Pops still has me by two inches but he picked up those two while he was in college so I still have a shot to beat him."

"Holy crap! How tall is your mom?"

He gave a big shit-eating grin which I'm not gonna lie gave me the slightest bit of apprehension. "Five two."

"I don't. I don't. I don't even want to know how that couple would work. They'd have to…" I shook my head in an effort to get the slightly disturbing mental images that now flooded my brain. The brown-haired young man simply threw back his head and laughed loudly at my increasing uneasiness as we continued running. "Well, at least it's safe to say you got your Dad's side of the genetics."

"Yeah I think that's pretty clear for all to see." We ran for a bit and reached the one-mile marker where Assistant D.I. Kerry Dixon stood yelling out that we had just hit the eight minute mark and to pick up the pace, move our asses, etc, etc. "So Wolf, where ya from?"

"Detroit, my adopted dad was ex-alliance so signing up was a pretty natural choice. How 'bout yourself Big Ben?"

I wiped a bit of sweat from my forehead before he answered. The weather in California was ridiculously hot compared to the usual cool Detroit weather I'd been used to. Sure it got hot in the summer but not in early winter like it was now. "Well, I was born and raised in Alabama actually. My dad played football professionally and I was planning on doing the same but I tore my knee up really bad in a car accident." His face grew a bit darker at the memories as he recalled what happened. "Fucking drunk driver smashed into me and a couple buddies. And after that," he made a loud, dismissive sound, "right out the damn window. All those scholarship offers…gone. If I wasn't playing football then the whole college thing wasn't too high on my list. I've never been that great in the classroom, got decent grades but nothing special. Always been much better at working with my hands, anything that's got an engine in it, I can fix. Guess I've just always been interested in making broken things work you could say."

"Wow, I'm really sorry about that, man that's gotta suck to have your dream taken away by some idiotic asshole's stupid choice. What position did you play out there?"

"D end mostly. Pitched in on the offensive end at tackle but yeah, mostly end." He looked forward and started to put on a bit of speed. "Hope you don't mind but I'm gonna put on some hustle for this last bit. I like to finish out my jogs with a bit of speed."

"Go 'head big man, you do what you gotta do. Thanks for chatting with me, I can't stand just going for a run so it helps to have somebody to run with."

He gave me a pat on the back before he took off. "No problem Wolf. I'll see you back at the house, hope you do well with the rest of the test."

I yelled good luck at his back as he rapidly started to distance himself from the set of runners. Up ahead, Drill Instructors Speirs and Jackson were both waiting with their arms crossed and welcoming in the recruits who were passing the finish line. The loud voice of Madeline Jackson rang in my ears. "Twelve minutes ladies! Move your asses! Still have two more drills to finish up, the fun hasn't even started yet. Sooner you get done, sooner you're finished."

As I passed the finish line Instructor Speirs wrote down my time on his omni-tool. "Wolfert correct?" I nodded. "Twelve minutes and nine seconds. Good job recruit. Pull-ups are next so head on to the right where Lieutenant Dixon is."

Pausing for a moment, I tried to catch my breath before giving a salute that was at least marginally improved from my earlier clumsy attempts and thanking the two instructors before going on my way.

Racks and racks of pull-up bars of all different heights were arranged next to each other with Marines lined up all along them waiting for their respective turn. As I walked up Instructor Dixon asked my height and after I responded directed me to one of the lines.

**LINE BREAK**

Well, that could have gone a lot worse. After waiting for my turn to finally come up in the line I knocked out the two pull-ups pretty easily. The sit-ups afterwards were a bit tougher but I managed to hit fifty with just a couple seconds remaining and passed the initial strength test. Not with flying colors by any means, but hey, it's done. I'm glad it's out of the way and I can continue on with the drilling.

I was the last of our group to finish up and thankfully all four of us had passed the first big test and were going to be able to continue with the training. Those who weren't able to get it done were stuck on the, "Donut Brigade," and were going to be drilled continuously until they were able to pass the strength test. After that the thirteen weeks of boot camp would finally begin for them.

All four of us were just sitting and going over how the initial run of drills went for each of us, apparently Alliance Marines receive some genetic modifications and we were all waiting for our room to be assigned to get the mods. The modifications weren't anything major from their explanations but over the course of time they'd naturally help with your strength, stamina, reaction time and some other athletic abilities. In addition to the mods I was also getting surgery to receive my biotic amp. An L3, the standard biotic implant, was going to be inserted into the base of my skull so I was a bit nervous about the whole thing which I think is understandable considering people are going to be drilling near my head.

Everything had been going great so far. Ben and Mitch were both great, even if Vega and I still weren't on the best of terms but you know what they say, you can't win 'em all. Plus I've still got the whole rest of boot camp to get on his good side. I might be a sarcastic ass sometimes, okay, most of the time, but I'd rather get along with everyone if at all possible.

I turned to Mitch who was sitting on one of the lower beds of the two bunks in the room. Ben who by now had been dubbed by just about everyone as, "Big Ben," thanks to the unstoppable combo of alliteration and his giant-like height, was seated just a short ways from him on the same bed. On the other side of the room Vega, who was still pointedly ignoring me, and vice versa, occupied the other bunk bed. Which left me to sit in the only chair in the room since I wasn't really too keen on either sharing space with two other guys as it'd be a really tight fit or my other option, which was with Vega. That wasn't happening.

"So," I decided to try and at least be friendly with the large Hispanic sitting across from me, "uh…how'd you do on your tests Vega."

He gave a slight shrug and answered while still looking at the floor and messing with the new clothes we'd been given. Oh, that was one thing I forgot to mention. As of right now, we all had no personal effects as our clothes and omni-tools had all been taken for the duration of the camp. For attire we were supposed to be wearing Alliance gear at all times and communications were to be done at the electronic devices located in the first floor of each house.

"Pretty well I guess, knocked out all three tests with plenty of time to spare. I've been working hard these last couple years to prepare for this so I'm glad to get this initial shit out of the way and get started on the real stuff. This guy though," he pointed over to where Mitch was sitting, "cortito," I raised my hand to indicate a question but Vega cut me off, "it means, 'shorty,' in Spanish Nate," my hand dropped, "he blew everybody away. He was already done with sit-ups by the time I got over there. I think he was the first one finished in the whole damn camp."

The little blonde just shrugged modestly. "No shit, Mitch? I know if that was me I'd be bragging about it nonstop. Congrats man."

At this point we were interrupted by First Lieutenant Kerry Dixon. Hastily, we all stood up and snapped to attention and he motioned for us to relax. "Evening recruits, hope you're all feeling well after our little run earlier. The three of you," he pointed to everybody but me," are going downstairs for your gene mods so just relax and somebody'll be coming along shortly. Wolfert, you're coming with me."

I quickly threw on the jacket I had been assigned and followed Dixon out the door and into the night.

**LINE BREAK**

"Alright, now sit down in the chair please." A middle-aged man in Alliance fatigues helped me up and into the seat. He began to describe the surgery that was going to happen in the very near future. To begin with they were going to have to insert an IV to administer the anesthetic. After that while I was out, in addition to the surgery to install the biotic implant, they were going to stick me full of all kinds of needles to boost my physical strength, stamina and mental acuity.

I sighed inwardly, great more needles. Well I can look on the bright side, at least I'll be unconscious for the whole ordeal. I was told that tomorrow I wouldn't be able to do any physical activity but that was fine since it was mostly paperwork and fun stuff like that on the second day. After that it'd be back to the grind though, including biotic workouts now that I would have something installed to amplify my potential. I'm not gonna lie. I was scared shitless at the thought of them inserting something into my skull but the doc assured me that with the L3's most of the previous problems that had been present in the last implant had been eradicated. Most? Fuckin' great, that makes me so reassured.

"Alright, just relax son. Now when you wake up you are going to be back in your room so just remember to take it easy and not freak out. If you need anything then your roommates will be there to help you so just try not to forget where you are when you wake. Now a headache and some pain will be quite normal, but if you get anything that reaches migraine-level discomfort then please let your instructors know immediately."

For the second time in a short span I heaved a large sigh. Looking around the room as the surgeon prepared the anesthetic I noticed Instructor Jackson going through some paperwork in the other room. Looking up from her task for a brief moment she gave a big cheesy grin and a friendly salute which I returned weakly. And just like that, I blacked out.

**LINE BREAK**

I woke up in a dark room and opened one eye to try and take in my surroundings which wasn't really working too well because of the darkness I mentioned. Mentally, I tried talking to myself in an effort to relax. Calm down Nate, remember what the surgeon said. You're just back in your room. Everything's fine. Sinking back down into bed I started to drift off before my hand brushed the back of my head. Instead of the usual hair and skin I felt stitches which freaked me out. "Mitch! Mitch! You there man? Please tell me I'm not insane." I paused for a moment. "I guess I could be dreaming, that'd be weird." I slapped myself lightly and when the pain didn't wake me up I ruled out that possibility. I rolled over and got out of the bed and walked over to the other bunk and shook the occupant of the top one.

"Mmmff…go 'way. Trying to sleep. Still dark out. Go back to bed."

"Mitch, hey it's Wolfert. I just need you to look at something real quick, then you can go back to bed and I promise I will not disturb you at all."

He sighed loudly and muttered a loud string of curses. Throwing the covers off of himself, he rolled out and joined me on the floor. "What?"

"I'm really, really, really sorry for waking you up. It's just Vega doesn't like me and Vandel could pick me up and throw me if I pissed him off so I **really** didn't want to wake him up. That left you because you've been nice to me and you're not very threatening… because you're really short. No offence."

Woley threw his hands up in the air. "What does that have to do with anything? Never mind, I don't want to know. Just tell me what's up so I can go back to sleep."

"Well, I just want to make sure the surgery went ok. Could you just check things out really quick? Please?" He simply pointed towards the hallways that were still lighted in response. "Thanks, you're the best, man."

We stepped out and he looked at the stitches that now covered the incision that were made near the base of my skull. Turning my head back and forth he looked them over, making sure that everything seemed like it was in proper order. "Yeah it looks good buddy. Can I go to bed now?"

"Yup, sorry about waking you up. I was freaking out a little bit and just needed somebody to make sure that things went ok. I really appreciate it, I'll make it up to you somehow. I owe you one."

"You can make it up to me right now by shutting up and letting me go to sleep."

"Will do buddy. G'night."

We both walked back into the room where Jimmy and Ben were sleeping peacefully after the first night of drills. The sounds of light snoring alerted me that Mitch had just joined them in slumber. I however, could not fall asleep. Instead, I crossed my arms behind my head and just looked up at the ceiling thinking about the events of the day. Shit, I totally forgot to message Jack and Emma. Well, first thing tomorrow, I'll let them know I got here ok and that I passed the first set of drills.

**A/N: Alrighty, another Tuesday, another chapter. Pretty short one of mostly character interaction this time but after this it'll actually get into some training shit and then it's time for Wolf to go off into the wild blue yonder and fight the bad space men.**

**I also realized looking back that I basically just took the current US Marine program and made it the Alliance one with some tweaks so…apologies to anyone not in 'Murrica reading this that I'm too lazy to look up other countries basic training courses and implement them. My bad.**

**Unity9: Yeah buddy, everyone's favorite jacked-up Hispanic is in town and he's bringing all the gratuitous occasional Spanish words thrown in here or there that you can handle! (Or that I'm willing to take the time to look up again or remember from high school, but again, laziness strikes often.)**


	9. Don't Wake Me Up

A loud horn blared from the loudspeakers that were placed in each of the individual rooms way too early the morning after my surgery. Rolling over and throwing off the covers that were draped over my body, I looked to the window for a second before uttering a rather loud expletive. "Shit, it's not even light out yet."

None of the other three other occupants of the room got a chance to reply as a loud, annoyingly bright, feminine voice spoke rang throughout the dormitory. "Good morning recruits! Congrats on getting through the first day, only ninety left before you're full-fledged Marines! A surprise inspection of your rooms last night while you were sleeping revealed that ninety-five percent of you are undisciplined slobs who are incapable of cleaning up their own messes like little kids. So to kick that bad habit to the curb you all are getting an early start today! Now if you are not dressed and downstairs in the main hall of your respective houses in ten minutes finalizing your paperwork, well…let's just say that there's no room in the Corps for laziness so get up, rub your eyes and move your damn asses. I'll see you all in ten, scratch that, nine minutes."

The three biggest of our group stood and looked at each other for a brief moment before scrambling for the fatigues that we had thrown hastily around the room last night in a scramble to be the first to fall asleep.

"Get your hands off Wolfert! This shirt's mine yours is hanging from the corner."

"My bad Vega. Hey, I've got somebody else's boots here."

"What size are they?"

Our mad scramble to get ready was interrupted by the arrival of the short guy in the group, Mitch. The little bastard was already in full Alliance PT gear and sipping some coffee. "You guys have got five minutes left, better hurry." And with that warning he exited the room to the sound of lowly muttered cursing. I hate morning people.

Finally, we sorted everything out and arrived downstairs with a minute to spare. Lieutenant Dixon was waiting there for the recruits to arrive and once everyone had gathered he began to give instruction on where to begin the finalization of paperwork. He also gave demonstrations on proper care of your clothing, how to fold bedding properly, even how to shower without wasting any effort.

So far the surgery to install the implant had gone great. I didn't really feel any different so I guess that's better than the migraines and nausea they mentioned were some of the side effects. I waited patiently with the rest of the guys until they finished handing out our medical and personal info which we all were instructed to go over with a fine-tooth comb. Any screw up at this point that was not caught would result in having to go through the entire process all over again.

**LINE BREAK**

"You guys done yet?" I looked from my end of the table to where Mitch, James and Ben were sitting. The blonde Terra Nova native looked up from his work. Instead of the shaggy blonde hair he was sporting previously it was now cut very short on the sides in a similar fashion to my own. The only difference being that instead of the mohawk I was sporting, the top as a whole was left longer in what our barber called a, high regulation or high fade with the front being styled slightly up. The other two men had opted to simply go for the short and tight buzzcut.

Mitch leaned back from his datapad. "Just finished. No problems on my end."

"Same here."

"Likewise."

"Cool, you want me to take in your guys work? I'm heading up anyway." All three nodded and lifted their tablet over their heads which I collected as I went by. Walking up to Kerry Dixon I handed all four items over to him. "Here's the information for us recruits from room 415 sir. What are our next instructions if it's appropriate to ask First Lieutenant, sir?"

"Just sit tight recruit, Instructor Jackson will be by in five minutes to give an instructional speech."

"Thank you sir." I saluted and went to sit back down with my roommates. "Alright guys, he said we're getting a speech from Jackson next so we're just waiting here."

We all sat down and shot the shit for the next few minutes until the redheaded instructor arrived. She talked for the next forty-five minutes about what the next three months would entail for us. The first things we would be learning consisted of basic first aid and hand-to-hand combat. In addition to that she spoke on the history of Marines, the customs and general courtesies that went along with being an Alliance representative, how to properly wear your uniform and also things like leadership, discipline and the core values that would be engrained into our heads over the course of the camp. All in all it was a pretty good speech and surprisingly, even though I had to wake up a lot earlier than I was used to, I had no trouble staying up. A fact which I was immensely thankful for as a few unfortunate recruits did doze off and were promptly put on tough or menial tasks for the next couple weeks that they'd be stuck doing in addition to their regular responsibilities.

I learned quickly that despite the friendly demeanor of our drill instructors they were definitely not screwing around. Even if they weren't screaming in your face like the movies nowadays always portrayed them, they had a different kind of discipline that they instilled that you definitely learned quickly to respect, because otherwise you were going to be cleaning up crap on latrine duty for weeks. And that was something that I definitely tried my best to avoid.

**LINE BREAK**

"Hello, this is Ramsey's armory how can I help you?"

"Jack, it's me Nate. I just got done with the finalizing everything and we've got a bit of free time before bunks so I figured I'd give you a ring."

"Good to hear from you kid, I know from experience that they don't exactly give you a ton of free time to make personal calls. How'd you do on the initial test?"

"Well, I passed everything so pretty well I guess. Got surgery last night to put in my implant along with shots for the genetic mods too so they've been keeping me busy but so far, so good." I was full of questions at that point about how things were back home. "How's Dax doing? Any trouble with the Reds? Have they been asking about me?"

Making a dismissive sound he answered back. "Nah. Not a thing, they're too stupid to recognize one turian from another so he's fine. And as for you, they're still coming by a couple times a day asking where you're at but I can handle a couple punk kids so it's no big deal."

"Good, good. Tell Dax I said hey." I leaned back in the chair and sighed a bit before remembering something. "Oh, I almost forgot. My instructor said to tell you hi. He called you Deadshot, or something like that though."

The ex-marine chuckled lightly on the other end. "Sounds like you ran into one of my old war buddies then. Who was it?"

"I uh, don't really remember the name he gave but it was some other comic book character."

"Don't leave me in suspense, assigning codenames based on old comic book characters was pretty common for the people I worked with. Or if you don't remember his moniker then what's his actual name…at least just describe the guy."

"Oh, well his name's Speirs, he's a shorter guy. Bunch of scars on his face."

At that Jack laughed loudly which caused a couple of the other recruits to look over. "You're telling me Nemesis is your instructor? I just cannot picture him at some camp teaching a bunch of fresh-faced punk recruits. No offence."

"None taken." Even though I'm not fresh-faced.

"Well, I got customers so I gotta go but keep up the good work Nate and stay on Speirs' good side. He's a nice guy but he's got a bit of a temper and he's crabby as hell, if he ever gives you trouble tell him I said he still owes me one for Shanxi so he's gotta ease up on you."

I gave a small chuckle. "Will do, I'll talk to you later pops."

After hanging up I looked around what the instructors called the communications room, which was really just a bunch of computers hooked up to make outgoing calls, to make sure that no one else was waiting to make a call. Seeing nobody else in the room I quickly made a call to Emma, just wanting to make sure she was still ok and nothing had happened after that night. After a few rings a voice on the other end answered.

"Hi, this is Emma."

"Hey Emma, it's…" I was cut off by the voice continuing as if it hadn't heard me at all.

"I can't talk right now so just leave me a message and I'll get back to ya. Bye!"

I sighed and waited for the beep. Stupid voicemail. "Hey it's me Nate. We just got through the initial testing over here at boot camp and I had a couple minutes to spare so I guess I just figured I'd give you a ring and uh, just make sure everything's ok. Well," I sighed, "I'm not sure when I'll get some time next but I'll try and give you another call soon, I guess I'll just have to talk to you later then."

I hung up the phone and left the room, closing the door gently behind me. Trudging back to the room I opened it up to find my three roommates in bed, even though as far as I could tell all of them were still up.

"So Nate, you get a hold of your girl?"

I turned to look at Mitch who was smirking from the top bunk opposite me. "Nah, talked to Jack but couldn't get a hold of Emma. I just ended up leaving her a voicemail so hopefully she gets that and is doing alright. I'm just a bit worried after that whole deal with the Reds went down and she was involved. I keep telling myself it was too dark so I don't think they could've identified her but I'm still worried about it."

The tall Southerner peeked out his head from the bed below. "What are you worried about? Who are the Reds?"

"Just some gang from back home in Detroit." I waved my hand in an indifferent fashion to try and make it seem like it wasn't a big deal. "I got into a couple scrapes with 'em before I left and Emma was with me for one of those times so I'm just a bit concerned that they might go after her in an attempt to get to me since as far as they know I'm still hiding somewhere in Detroit. At least that's what I'm assuming they think."

"You could tell her to go to your adopted dad if she gets into any trouble right? Wasn't he ex-Alliance or something? I'm sure he could help her out."

"Mitch, you're the best. How many minutes 'till lights out?"

"Umm…seven."

"Well, that doesn't leave me much time then does it."

I vaulted out of the bed, quickly pulled the door open and ran back downstairs into the communications room. Once again I got her voicemail but that was fine by me. I'd much rather get a hold of her when there was actually some time to talk.

"Nate again, sorry to keep bothering you. I just keep worrying that the Reds are gonna do something while I'm gone and it'd really ease my mind if you just talked to Jack about it. I don't know if you're still with your parents or are living on your own but please just go to him if anything happens. He'll take care of you. Even if everything's ok, just check in with him every now and then please it'd really be a huge relief to me. I just want you to be ok. Alright, I'll give you a call next time I get a chance. Sorry for getting you involved in this whole mess. Bye."

Once again, I made the return trip upstairs. Although this time I was a lot more relaxed. Jack would know what to do if something happened. After all, he'd been in his fair share of fights. Thinking about that got me curious. Just how **did** Jack know Speirs? Instructor Jackson said that the Staff LT had been N7 so I wonder if that was it or if it was something completely unrelated. And Jack had mentioned Shanxi too so there's that. Well, next time then I'll have to figure out how exactly they knew each other. It'd probably make for a good story at least.

Arriving back into our room, the sound of the female instructor blared over the loudspeakers announcing that they would be doing night checks to make sure everyone was in their room with lights out. I crawled up the ladder and into the top bunk of our room. Heaving a large sigh of contentment I settled in for the night.

**LINE BREAK**

For the second day in a row a loud siren blaring over our loudspeakers woke me up in the morning. "Wakey wakey recruits! Up and at 'em bitches, no more bullshit paperwork. It's all fun and games from here on out so get ready to be sore for the next three months of your life. Put on your shorts and tees gentlemen, we are going for a wake up run!" The feminine tones of Madeline Jackson stood in sharp contrast to her very un-ladylike words. I jumped out of bed along with Mitch, Ben and Vega and we all scrambled into the workout clothes they had given us. Before I left I took a look at the alarm clock on the wall. Four-thirty A.M.…well shit.

Looking down the long line of bleary-eyed recruits who were for the most part still trying to rub the sleep out of their eyes, I waited for the instructors to, well, give instruction. The red-headed Lieutenant Commander Jackson stood and surveyed the line. "No slouching, everyone up and at attention. We've been pretty relaxed these first two days but here on out we are kicking up the discipline aspect of things so stand up straight. Hands behind your back." She went up and down the line, correcting the form of several people along the way. Eventually, she was satisfied with the effort and we continued with the morning drills. "Alright ladies, Staff Lieutenant William Speirs is going to take you all on a little tour of the camp this morning. Things have been rushed trying to get all the genemods and paperwork done so we're going to get you all accustomed with your surroundings really quickly here. Also, Instructor Dixon and I will be trailing the group to make sure none of you are slacking. So, you recruits ready?"

"Yes ma'am!"

"Then here we go. Welcome to Hollywood recruits."

The first couple days formed a decent routine that I fell into really easily, surprisingly. I even got used to waking up before the crack of dawn which shocked Jack when I talked to him as I'd always been a heavy sleeper. We'd wake up in the early, early morning, go for a run, then come back and have some time for personal hygiene and morning clean-up. After that was done the real day would begin, some days it was classes, others it was drilling or even learning the basics of Marine martial arts.

All of us were given sparring partners and of course thanks to my immense luck I drew the Jimmy fuckin' Vega card. I'm sure he felt the same way about me to be fair though. At first this might sound like hell on earth being paired up to fight every day with the one guy in camp who you can't stand but shockingly, beating the living crap out of somebody for a couple weeks is a good way to get rid of a lot of the bad feelings. I wouldn't say we were best buds by any stretch of the imagination, but we had a, not friendly, but at least not openly hostile, rivalry. In fact, scrapping with Vega was one of the best things for me since thanks to Jack, I probably had a leg up on most of the other recruits, in hand-to-hand fighting at least. Neither of us were the most disciplined nor tactical fighters but we were both pretty strong and grew up brawling on the streets.

The burly Hispanic came from a pretty tough background kinda similar to my own. His mom died when he was real young but unlike me, his dad was around, which was almost worse for him. Apparently he seemed to be permanently strung out on Red Sand or drunk from how the big guy told the story of his life. As we got to be friendlier he told me a little bit about his uncle, Emilio. He had always encouraged him since he was little to do what he wanted when he grew up, fed him whenever Jimmy's dad couldn't be found and even cleaned him up after he got into fights, which the recruit got into his fair share of.

After the morning trainings were over there was a nice break where lunch was served which actually wasn't too terrible. At least if you went in with low expectations that is. After lunch was eaten it was more of the same, we were either working out, learning in the classroom or practicing our hand-to-hand. That lasted till about eighteen hundred hours when dinner came. After chow there were usually about two hours of what they called, "specialization," courses. Based on the initial assessment of the recruit's skills and talents you were put into different courses. Being one of the recruits with biotic potential, I was enrolled in a beginner's course where we were instructed, by Lieutenant Dixon actually, who in addition to being a massive human being and apparently a tactical genius was also a biotic which I had forgot they mentioned. The first couple weeks were really slow going and about all we'd do for the first ninety minutes in class was meditate. It was a really strange feeling going from the craziness and hectic pace of the rest of the day to then being in an environment where you were taught to conceptualize the presence of shit you couldn't see moving through your head.

After about about ten days of imagining a burning fire going through my head, I actually could feel a sort of tingling sensation. It started right at the base of my neck but any time I would try to project the blaze flowing through my arms into some kind of throw or warp, poof, gone. Hell, at first they wanted me to picture an ocean rolling through but screw that. If they're gonna make me meditate in a damn boot camp then I sure as hell am picturing something blazing up instead of a tranquil ocean-side picnic. After all I'm gonna be using that on the battlefield, theoretically and I don't think I'll be the calmest when there's highly accelerated bullets speeding towards my face.

Anyway, after biotic practice was over the entire camp had an hour of time to attend to personal matters. We were allowed at that time to do activities like preparing equipment or gear for the following day, working out, doing laundry, more meditating for the biotics and studying Marine tactics or history. We were also allowed to make calls to family members or friends at this time, under monitored situations of course, all the talks were on delay and screened by superior officers. After this one of the instructors would come by and do a final inspection of the houses to make sure that nothing was out of place.

Oh, I almost forgot the best part, all of us were issued our first rifle, an M7 Lancer. We were taught the ins and outs of every single piece of the standard issue weapon of the Alliance military. Assembling, disassembling, cleaning, we worked with that thing day and night until it became second nature to us and we knew it better than the back of our hand. We drilled with it, fought with it and even practiced firing with it but no real bullets yet, unfortunately. The only screw-up I made was calling the damn thing a gun early on in training. The reward for that colossal fuck-up was an immediate five-mile run followed by a couple days of being forced to wake up an hour early and do absolutely nothing but stand at attention which was absolute torture for me because of the whole lack of patience thing combined with waking up earlier.

Things were pretty similar the first couple weeks and, thanks to Mitch, who is one of the most organized bastards I've met I even got on a schedule for how I spent my free time. Monday and Thursday the four of us would go for a jog in light gear followed by a heavy workout. Tuesday and Friday we worked almost exclusively with the Lancer just in case we weren't already familiar enough. I think I had dreams about putting the thing back together I thought about it so much and that was before we even had any actual shooting. Wednesday and Saturday I spent practicing some more with my biotics and then afterwards I'd call up Jack and Emma.

Both of them were doing just fine after the incident thankfully. Emma had received my message, which was completely unnecessary as the Reds had not bothered her in any way whatsoever. The frequency of the times Jack was hassled by members of the gang who were looking for me had also died down to the point where it was nonexistent. Apparently my little escape into the Alliance had gone completely unnoticed by Curt fucking Weisman which was just fine as far as I was concerned. Hell I even chatted with Dax a little bit. Thanks to his previous life in the turian military Jack had offered him a job as his right-hand man. Business was better than ever and the turian had even given the old man a few ideas for new weapon mods that were selling like crazy. So, it sounded like everything had been going just fine on the home front in my absence.

And finally, Sunday was the day to simply kick back and relax with some Alliance historical and tactical reading. Usually this would bore me out of my mind but after the hectic pace the rest of the week it was actually a nice breather before getting back into the grind on Monday morning.

Big Ben and the midget had adjusted pretty well too and had been doing just fine so far in camp. The southerner was blowing through the drills with ease, receiving really high marks and even occasional verbal praise from the instructors for his toughness, work ethic and strong guidance to the rest of our house. He wasn't the most vocal guy ever but the sheer ferocity he put into any task we were given more than made up for it.

Mitch though, that guy took the damn cake, anything he did that guy just excelled at. Running, lifting weights, field stripping the Lancer, it didn't matter, he was just better at it. At first I was a bit jealous to be honest, it wasn't even like he had to struggle through it and everything he set out to accomplish just came naturally. It's like he was born for the job. But despite his superiority over us lowly recruits who were only mere mortals he never bragged about it once. Instead he was willing to help out whoever asked for it, like me with the schedule for instance. God knows I'd never be able to do something like that on my own. For one I can't plan and secondly I'm just too damn lazy. After working out the whole day, the last thing I wanted to was go back to the house and plan out what I was going to do.

The first two weeks passed by pretty quickly but the instructors warned us that starting week three a new element would be introduced into the training. And they meant, "element," literally. Fucking water.

**A/N: Not a lot going on in this chapter action or interaction wise so I apologize for that, just kind of a general acclimatization chapter for Wolf. It'll kick up a notch over the next couple chapters as actual stuff begins to happen. Stay classy San Diego.**

**Unity9: Yeah I kind of realized that everybody besides Mitch is from the States after I wrote everything out and by then it was too late to change it. Once Wolf graduates and gets put into an actual fireteam the cast diversity will expand a little bit. And thanks for the OC offer, might have to take you up on that in the future so I'll message you if I need some help.**

**The Darth Revan: Thanks for the review, I always appreciate constructive criticism so I'll definitely work especially hard on that going forward. Glad you've enjoyed it(mostly) so far :) P.S. Darth Scourge is a bitch.**


	10. Splish Splash

"Why does it have to be water? At least I was unconscious when they stuck me full of needles." I peered into the dark blue abyss that stared back into my soul. At least it seemed that way to me.

A muscular dark-haired Hispanic responded from the water, where the majority of recruits were already being taught how to survive in tough situations, to my hypothetical question. "I don't know Lobo, you ever thought that maybe you'd have to do some swimming in the freaking Marines? Y'know, Marine, it basically means having to do with the sea?"

Incredulous that somebody was daring to mock my perfectly logical fear I practically screamed back. "Yes Vega, I know what Marine means, they didn't say I was going to have my legs tied up and then thrown in to drown! That would have been nice to see on the fu-"

"Recruit! Stow the chatter and get your scrawny ass into the damn pool!"

I gave a hasty salute, which had improved a ton over the two weeks and was now pretty polished if I do say so myself. "Yes Drill Instructor Jackson ma'am!" I took a deep breath and plunged feet-first into the water where I was told to stay for a minute before surfacing to take a breath and do the whole thing over again. Now I've lived my life in fear of bodies of water but it wasn't a tough decision for me to jump into that pool. It ultimately came down to my phobia of water or my fear of Madeline Jackson. It didn't take too long to agree to dive into the liquid. At first blush the woman seemed pretty easygoing, at least for a DI, but I quickly figured out that the act was only as long as you gave your best effort and toed the line when it came to obeying orders. You showed the slightest hesitance in anything or slacked a little bit in PT and she would be in your face chewing you out before you could blink. So, with that in mind I decided to risk the murky depths.

Once I got to the bottom I opened up my eyes. Panicking a little bit, I looked around and saw Mitch in the water who gave a smile and a big thumbs-up which I half-heartedly returned. I guess it wasn't too bad as long as there were other guys there to help me out. After what felt like forever one of the divers they had there exactly for that purpose tapped me on the shoulder and pointed up towards up to the surface which I then rose to as fast as humanly possible.

"How you doing Wolf? I saw you were freaking out a little bit over there on the edge."

I waved my arms in a near futile attempt to stay afloat and talk to Mitch. He's a good dude. "Yeah I'm alright now buddy. I've just got a little bit of a fear of water so I'm struggling a bit right now. I'll get through it though. How you doing?"

The voice of our female instructor cut through the air. "Back under recruits, another minute in Davy Jones' locker."

Once again I inhaled deeply and dropped like a rock into the chilly blue liquid. Another sixty seconds passed before my shoulder was tapped and I surfaced, almost laughing when Mitch jumped right back into the conversation. "Pretty good, lil' sis and I swam a lot back on Terra Nova so I'm pretty used to being in the water. I guess you didn't get much of a chance to go swimming out on the streets of Detroit?"

"No, not really," I chuckled, "I really, **really** prefer to keep both feet on solid ground at all times and being suspended in fluid definitely does not count. I just want to get this crappy week over with and get back to non-water related training. This blows."

"I feel you Nate, it takes a little bit of practice to be comfortable in the water so just stick with it. I can help you out with some practice in square-away time if you'd like."

"I'd definitely appreciate it." I gave a thankful nod.

"Back under ladies!"

**LINE BREAK**

"Alright, let the feeling build up in the brain until you can feel a tingle. Sense it at the base of your skull, once it's there let it flow through your arm. Picture an orb of energy flowing out and hitting the targets downrange." I listened to the voice of our biotic instructor Kerry Dixon and tried to focus on the feeling out of my biotics. I visualized a burning inferno starting at the skull and increasing in intensity. Alright now just let it flow through the arm and down to the hand. Ok, here we go.

"Yes! Holy shit! That was fucking awesome. Target's obliterated." A shout of jubilation rang throughout the practice facility and my concentration dropped instantly, the feeling fizzling like the air being let out of a balloon. I looked down the field to where one of the targets was floating through the air aimlessly. It was quickly thrown out of play by Dixon who nailed it in mid-air with a warp orb that blew the damn thing up. Seriously, there was a huge navy blue explosion that threw pieces of the thing everywhere. A chorus of ooh's and ahh's sounded throughout the room at Dixon's speedy effort of eradication.

One by one, my fellow classmates had been producing biotic attacks over the last week. Warps, throws, lifts, no singularities but that was a pretty advanced technique Dixon said so that was to be expected. Frankly, I was getting pretty tired of no results. "Alright, this is it." Once again, I closed my eyes and meditated on the feeling of fire going through my mind, adding in my own feelings of anger and frustration. Let it build, let it build, and…release. I pictured the blaze moving through my arm and the blueish-purple ball of energy flying through the air as I gave a heavy grunt of effort and moved my open hand forward in a sort of punching motion. Holy. Shit. For the first time in two and a half weeks of class I produced a visible result as the ball of energy known as a, "warp," flew through the air and hit the target. Speechlessly, I stared at the result of my biotic masterpiece. The target was still fully intact but I didn't give a shit. Something happened and that was enough for me.

I ran the back of my sleeve across my forehead which was glistening with sweat from the effort and stumbled backwards a bit from the range, fatigued from the effort of the attack. "Congratulations recruit, that was your first launch wasn't it? A warp too by the looks of it. Not bad, not bad at all. How you feeling? Pretty shitty I'd bet, your first few weeks of actual throws'll wear you out quick so make sure to refuel on nutrients right after. There's a table right over there, go grab some chow." Instructor Dixon gave a friendly pat on the back and pointed over to where the table with supplies was located.

I gave a salute and weakly muttered a, "thank you sir," he wasn't lying when he said that your first biotic attacks will take a lot out of you. I joined the recruit who had just launched a throw, sitting down at the table and giving a little nod as I grabbed a power bar, fruit and some kind of beverage that they gave to us biotics. I still don't know what's in that drink which, I'm not gonna lie scares me quite a bit. As I rested after my efforts with a relieved sigh, I chugged some of the drink which had a bit of a chalky quality that stuck to the roof of your mouth and just lingered. Wow, just that one throw felt like I had done an entire day's work in an hour. I had only been sitting for a few seconds when my internal monologue was interrupted by the other occupant of the rounded table.

"Was that your first one too?"

"Yup, first results here."

"Congrats buddy." We tapped our drinks together in a congratulatory salute. "I know, I'm feeling like I just ran a marathon using my damn arms. Better not always be this way, I don't know how well I'd fight feeling like I can't lift my arms."

He stuck out his hand in greeting and I studied him as we shook. The guy looked a few years older than me, about twenty-three if I had to guess. His skin was a lighter, but not too light brown that looked as if he had at least partial Hispanic heritage. Dark, midnight black hair styled into a high fade and warm brown eyes that were shaped almost like an almond topped a thin nose and chin that were flanked by a pair of high, angular cheekbones. Not tall by any means, but not short either, probably just under six feet tall if I had to guess and he had a slim, agile-looking build. "Name's Diego Barnes." He flashed a grin full of pearly white teeth.

"I'm Nate Wolfert. Nice to meet you Diego."

"So, how've these first few weeks treated you Nate?"

I gave a little shrug as I leaned back into the chair and started working on the wrapper of a power bar. "Eh, not bad. Could've done without the water and shots but other than that I can't complain too much. Instructors have been great, I get along with most everybody and haven't failed any drills so far besides being yelled at a couple times for some slight screw-ups so yeah, I'd say things are going pretty good. How 'bout you? Any troubles so far?"

At that his grin, grew a little bit bigger if that was possible. "Well," he drew out the ending of the word and let it hang for a second, "let's just say it's a good thing I'm too quick to get into any actual trouble. Otherwise it might be a different story altogether…" I chuckled at his vague statement and waved for him to elaborate if he wanted to. "Well, if some of the biotic food rations and some painkillers were to disappear and happen to show up in the contents of one of my roommates who's been struggling with headaches, nausea and cramps since getting his amp in, well, it definitely wasn't me who managed to sneak in to the cafeteria and mess with the security cameras due to a "borrowed" omni-tool and pick the lock on the cabinets. This is all hypothetical of course."

Due to some of my more troublesome habits I had become well acquainted with hypothetical situations arising between Jack and me. The supply areas were always locked down tight at night though and a partial energy bar spit back onto the table was the result of my disbelief. I whispered to make sure the instructors didn't hear. "You snuck into the goods? How'd you manage that? Hypothetically of course."

"Well, in another life I might have engaged in some operations of…questionable legality back home in Rio. I've got some little bit of talent with an omni-tool and a lock-pick, I prefer to finesse my way through a situation whenever possible. Kind of funny to think that a guy like me is now a rough and tough Marine huh?" He kicked back in his seat and chugged one of the supplemental drinks.

"Yeah, it is a little funny now that you mention it. The Alliance Corps doesn't seem like too much of a place for a subtle guy like yourself. And don't worry about me spilling news of your little raiding parties on the supplies. I've got a little bit of a past myself you could say, and us thieves gotta stick together right?"

"Amen buddy."

"Recruits! That's enough lollygagging for a week, break is over. Back to your station."

Two loud, "yes sir's," rang out and Diego and I returned to our station but not before giving each other a hopefully subtle nod and wink. As I returned to my station the physically imposing instructor walked over to where I was getting ready to give it another go.

"I saw that warp you launched, not too bad for a first attack. So tell me, what was different in that last one since you've been doing the same thing for about twenty days with no results until five minutes ago."

I thought for a moment on it before answering. "To be honest sir, I just got angry. At first I was trying to picture the ocean and be calm, meditate, channel it and all that but I got mad and I used my frustration with this whole damn thing and just channeled it into that warp. Just picture a raging inferno and that's about what I was thinking of. Other than that I don't know, same punching motion, same tingling but different end result."

"Interesting." He ran a calloused hand over his chin which was covered in a light stubble. "You know why they nominated me to teach you recruits bio and hand-to-hand, at just twenty-seven, besides the fact that I could kick anybody's ass who challenged me?" He gave a smile to show that he was mostly joking.

"No sir I don't."

"Well, let me teach you then recruit. Biotics, like fighting, is all in the mind. Sure, you've gotta have good reflexes, strength and all that shit but you take two equally matched fighters, throw 'em in a ring and who's gonna come out on top? That's where the mind games come in, you need a sixth sense when you fight. Tell me, when that prick back in Detroit was swinging that knife at you that second time you saw it before it came right?" I merely nodded. "I'll bet you were pretty fucking pissed that your chin got sliced up like that and you wanted to beat the living crap out of all of them. But you didn't freak out, you kept your head and you won. You have to do the same thing with your biotics. Now, everybody's got a different way of doing it, some are tranquil, some visualize the thing happen and some, like you and me, we get utterly ticked off. We're mad that this arrogant prick's got the balls to screw with us and we're making him pay for that stupidity right?"

"Yes sir!"

"Good, so take those feelings you've got and control 'em. You have to master your emotions, not the other way around. Got it? Now I want you to try a new biotic technique." He explained the concept of a, "lift," orb to me. "Now, just leave your hand down at your waist like this." Following his example I let my right arm hang loose at my side. "Now, do the same thing as before but instead of picturing that thing being shredded, imagine it being lifted straight up into the air. And remember, harness your emotions."

Once again as I felt the fire tingling in my head I let loose all the negative feelings that had built up over the last month. And, release. Flinging my arm up I let loose a violet sphere that flew through the air towards the target. I waited for a moment, anticipating the target flying weightlessly through the air and…failure. The damn thing flew right over the top of the target, missing it completely. "Talk about a buzzkill." Even though I hadn't nailed my target it still felt great to throw two successful orbs in a row. I turned to my instructor who was still standing next to me watching my attempted liftoff. "Thank you Instructor Dixon sir, I'll nail it next time for sure."

"I'm sure you will recruit. Good work, go check in with Instructor Speirs over by the range. He should be going through some rifle 101 right about now. You shouldn't overexert yourself on your first launch day. Recruits can get seriously hurt that way."

"Of course sir." Saluting, I turned around and exited the building.

**LINE BREAK**

Finally, I made it through fucking, "swim week," as they called it, mostly thanks to help from Woley. Just about all of the one hour of daily free time I had was spent in that pool practicing not dying as I liked to call it. Some skilled people might say "swimming," but what I did in that body of water was definitely not that by any stretch of the imagination. By the end of it I was, I wouldn't say comfortable, but I could survive in some nasty situations which is all that matters. Speirs taught us how to tread water for long periods of time, use issued equipment to stay above water level and even how to quickly shed heavy gear underwater that could lead to a quick death due to drowning if you got stuck in that crap.

Thankfully, we were now in the last week of phase one of camp as the instructors referred to it as. The intensity and discipline instilled in our close order drills was ramped up substantially and an increased focus on the mental side of being a Marine was definitely noticeable as next week would be kicked off by a written test. This doesn't mean that the other aspects were ignored but there was just a bit less time spent. We all still got to know the Lancer rifles better than any piece of tech out there, practiced our hand-to-hand combat skills and biotic lessons for those with amps. The red-headed Instructor Jackson even stopped in and taught me a couple new techniques despite the fact that I still couldn't top three successful attacks without being absolutely drained.

"Good work Bandage Face." Yeah, unfortunately that nickname stuck with a couple people. "That's what we call a 'barrier,' it'll absorb bullets to a certain point but just like the kinetic shields eventually they wear down if you're taking sustained fire. Most biotics will keep that active with a small portion of their capabilities once they're fully trained but for now don't bother with it, you'll just kill yourself unnecessarily. Now if you're feeling good let's try for a stasis, unlike warps and throws there's no orb and the effect is instantaneous so just imagine your target being completely immobilized. Oh, and before we start I noticed you're really inconsistent with your techniques when attacking. What you wanna do is have one easily repeatable motion for each specific skill. For example, that open palm punch you did for warps, the upward toss from the hips for the throw, swipe across the body for the barrier, etc, etc. When you get better it'll become natural that when you do that particular action you get the desired result then. Got it?"

"Yes ma'am. Any recommendations on an action for this…" I blanked on the word she used for it and looked expectantly for help on the subject.

"Stasis, recruit." If it was possible to face palm verbally she definitely just accomplished it. "Personally, I just hold my arm straight out from the chest and then just give a little twist of the hand, nice and simple. But everybody's different, you try it and see what works for you. Now, when I signal you I'm going to hit the target with a lift that it'll cause it to float upwards slowly. Your job is to freeze the bastard in mid-air." I stood at the start of the range with just a slight crouch in my stance, readying myself to try and halt the target in mid-air. "3, 2, 1, go."

A massive, lift orb that pulsated between a deep blue and a light violet flew downrange and smashed into the mark, hoisting it straight up. Ok, close your eyes, feel it in your mind, extend the arm and, twist. Opening my eyes, I saw the target frozen in mid-flight surrounded by a field of sapphire colored biotic energy. Turning away I almost jumped as I looked into the smiling face of my instructor. This isn't good…she hardly ever smiles.

"Nice stasis…you fucking assclown! You close your eyes on the battlefield like that and you know what happens? Your head's going to be completely gone. Erased. Obliterated. Reduced to nothingness. There's nothing a good sniper likes more than some idiot biotic who's standing there admiring his handiwork and thinks just because he's got magic fucking powers he's a god. You're practically doing his job for him. Why don't you just hand the bastard a credit chit for his standard pay and leave." Her face filled with disgust. "Get out of my sight, run the damn circuit and be back here in twenty minutes."

"Yes Drill Instructor Jackson."

I turned to go for my imposed jog but before I could exit she stopped me. She was smiling again and I instantly tensed up. This lady scares me, she's like a fully-grown woman-child, except with deadly skills and a hair-trigger temper. "Would you like to see how a real fucking biotic gets the job done?" When I answered in the affirmative she got into a battle-ready stance and grinned madly and yelled over the sound of other recruits practicing. "This is Senior Drill Instructor Lieutenant Commander Madeline Jackson reporting for duty, now everyone shut the hell up and watch how it's done."

Without another word she ran up to the makeshift barricade we stood at to practice our craft and while still in motion threw two massive globes that looked like miniature black holes. About a dozen of the targets were sucked up instantly and began to orbit around the two. Before I could even blink, Instructor Jackson made a crushing motion with her right hand and the two blue-black balls exploded with a fierceness that sent shrapnel flying from the annihilated targets just about everywhere, but still thankfully falling short of where us lowly trainees were watching in awe.

A loud chorus of cheers and yells could be heard up and down the field, even Dixon was giving a look of grudging respect. Although, I also could've sworn I heard him muttering something about one-uppers. Madeline herself was just standing there, beaming in the glow of her destruction. What can I say, the woman loved her job. "That recruits was two singularities, followed by a reave. Dedicate yourself and you might be able to pull off something as badass as that after years and years of practice." She turned around and spotted me, still standing stock-still in sheer and utter shock at the damage-wreaking display of sheer power. "The fuck are you still standing here gawking at? Get your ass in gear before I put you down there as a target for the next one Band-aid Man." Needless to say I left the area in record time.

**LINE BREAK**

"Over the side recruits." I grabbed the rope and jumped before tightening my grip back up and swinging in towards the wall. We'd been practicing rappelling down various structures the last week and it was actually going ok. Might sound weird but I'll take jumping off buildings over last week's adventures in the damn pool any day of the week. Jump. Swing. Repeat. Reach the bottom, circle around, hand-over-hand up the rope and do the whole thing over again.

I waited at the top and turned to Mitch who was looking down the rope apprehensively. "How you doing buddy?"

He raised his middle finger. "Fuck you Wolf."

I just laughed as I swung down next to him. "So you finally break the streak of twenty-some days of excellence thanks to your fear of heights. I'm surprised, the rumor is that you're the model of perfection."

"I'm not scared of heights, I just don't like them very much. Oh yeah and also, again, fuck you, and shut up. Just remember I helped you out in water week and you never know when they're going to make us swim again. You make fun of me now and when that time comes…" He trailed off leaving the implied threat hanging in the air.

"Jeez, you're no fun." Unfortunately sulking isn't that easy when you're swinging from a rope in mid-air otherwise I would have prolonged the teasing.

Instructor Jackson instructed our little banter while we were in mid-flight. "Hang out at the bottom once you recruits are done. You all have a big surprise coming up."

"Well, this is going to suck. Hard." Over the last few weeks I'd quickly learned that Jackson's, "surprises," along with her smiling, were almost never good and often were either physically or mentally draining. Once all of us were down she led us over to what looked like, and probably was, just a giant concrete bunker. Opening the doors we walked into a massive room that contained absolutely no furniture or anything of the sort. The only noticeable item was a large rack containing gas masks. I tapped the small blonde next to me and pointed over to the stand.

"The hell are those for?"

He just stared for a few seconds before swearing. "You have got to be shitting me. Jackson's gonna fucking gas us!"

"You're kidding me right…Mitch?" He just stared at the wall with the implements. "You're not joking."

"Alright recruits. Put on the gas masks and wait for further instruction." Once the platoon had completed the first task she spoke up again. "Now that you're all finished, the room is beginning to flood with CS, or as it is more commonly known, tear gas. Before any of you start to panic the doors are not locked behind you but if you can't take it and need to leave you will be summarily dismissed." A few minutes had passed and barring one of the recruits demanding to be let out nobody was really showing any signs of discomfort. "Alright good job so far kids, now when I count to three you are going to be taking off your mask and doing some calisthenics. 1, 2, 3 and go."

Dammit. I took the mask off and almost instantly my eyes began to tear up as the gas hit them full force. "Shit, where are you at Woley? You still ok, I can't see a damn thing."

"Yeah I'm fine, I'm right next to you Nate, you doing alright?"

"So far yeah."

Instructor Jackson began to put us through a light workout consisting of jumping jacks, pushups, sit-ups, some planks, etc, and just a couple minutes into the workout I had begun to vomit and my eyes were almost completely red from the irritation. By this point it was practically water I was upheaving. Needless to say, I felt miserable.

We started into another round of jumping jacks and my motor functions began to shut down. I fell to the floor and started to cough until my voice was hoarse. Stumbling around, sneezing, crying, vomiting and partially blind from the gas, I made my way over to Mitch. "I can't do it man. I can't keep going. My stomach feels empty but I keep throwing up, I'm sneezing, crying, coughing, can't see and I can hardly walk." As soon as I had finished speaking my whole body shuddered as I keeled over and gagged again. I started walking to the door in a zombie-like state of wretchedness. "I'm fucking done with this shit." My stumbling was interrupted by Woley who stood in my way with his arms outstretched. "Get out of the way Mitch, I'm leaving and going home. I can't take it anymore."

"What are you doing Wolf? We're just about done with the chamber and you're giving up now? Come on you're not a quitter man, just give it a few minutes ok?"

I sighed before coughing loudly again. "I can't. I'm done."

"What are you gonna do if you fail this?" He sneezed and almost fell to his knees. "Go back to Detroit? What's Jack gonna say?"

"Fine, I'll go for a couple minutes but then I'm over. It's not fucking worth getting tortured over."

"Hey, it's fine man. I'll help you out alright? We got through the damn water week, you can get through this shit no problem right?" He reached out and grabbed my shoulders and turned me away from the doors, not roughly but surprisingly forcefully for a smaller guy.

Thanks to Mitch, I made it through the tear gas. Once again, the little guy had come through and saved my ass because if it wasn't for him I would've left for sure. I guess I just got lucky that I sat next to him on the bus and we share a room. If I hadn't met him I'd have probably been on a bus back to Detroit and probably trying to hide from the Reds. Jack would've had to hide me somewhere again until I could get out of town and then who knows where I'd be.

As soon as I got out of that damn torture facility and I could see again I made sure to thank Woley profusely. I promised not to capitalize on his fear of heights and even to not make fun of him for being short, what can I say, he earned it.

**LINE BREAK**

A grunt of effort broke the silence as a brutal roundhouse kick flew towards the side of my face at a blistering speed. "Shit, shit." I quickly ducked under the intended blow and took a quick two steps forward that were punctuated with blows towards the midsection of my intended target. The first landed and I was rewarded with a sharp intake of breath as my gloved fist hit in the center of the chest between the rib cage and stomach. I was not as lucky with the second as, while it still landed, he was able to catch my hand and pulled me forward into his waiting elbow which quickly knocked me flat on my back. Thank god for protective headgear, otherwise that would have been lights out I'm sure. Before I could react and put up a protective effort though I was quickly overwhelmed by the sheer strength of my adversary who bulled through my defenses and raised a fist, ready to strike.

"That's enough recruits. Both of you up." I gave a sigh of relief as First Lieutenant Dixon interrupted the beating I was about to receive.

Pushing off the ground to my side James Vega got up and extended a hand downwards to help me up. Taking it, I quickly pulled and jumped to my feet, giving him a light tap on the helmet once I was standing on my own power. "Good fight Jimmy, I didn't think you were going to be able to recover from that punch that quickly."

He gave a modest shrug. "Well, it takes a lot to knock me off my game." He gave a playful shove which at his size meant it really wasn't that playful. "Least more than you're capable of anyways Lobo."

"Hey! I win my fair share, sometimes."

"Relax, relax I was just joking." He raised his hands above his shoulders in a peaceful gesture. "'Sides, after the shit you gave me on the bus I think I'm entitled to bust your balls when I feel like it don't you think?"

"That's fair." I gave a noncommittal shrug. "I don't know if I said it but I would like to a, apo, ap, apolo…"

"Apologize? It's fine man, don't worry about it. You get stuck on a bus that long you get grouchy, tempers flare and all that, I understand. Shit happens." He took my hand and pulled me into a "bro hug," as he tapped me on the back. "We good?"

"Yeah, we're good." I've said it before but guys are just weird in that regard. You have an issue with a guy, you fight a couple times, you get things out in the open and just like that you're fine. There's nothing like a good brawl to hash out your personal problems.

"Sorry to interrupt this touching scene but you recruits are dismissed for the night." The voice of our female instructor cut through the talk Vega and I were having. "You've all got an hour of personal time before lights out so get everything squared away. Tomorrow will be a special day. There will be no PT and the entire schedule will consist of classroom sessions to prepare you for the upcoming week's testing so get ready for that, I do not want to see anyone dozing off in class. The punishment will be swift and severe."

We made our way back to the room, chatting as we walked. "How you feeling after that fight?"

I gingerly touched my head where Vega's right elbow had impacted. "You know, even though I was wearing that padded helmet my dome still feels like it got hit by a car. Speaking of that, how's your chest? That was no little punch I hit you with even if you shrugged it off like it was nothing." In response he simply pulled up his shirt, showing off his muscular physique. My attention was drawn instantly to a nasty-looking green and purple bruise located right in the middle of his chest. "Shit man and you just shrugged that off like it was nothing?"

"I got in a lot of fights growing up. I had to learn how to take a punch pretty quick just out of self-defense. Believe it or not but there are guys bigger, tougher and maybe even stronger than me. Although I highly doubt that last one." He flexed his right bicep and gave a big, toothy grin.

I laughed loudly at Vega's boasting. "Yeah, guys like big damn Ben, kid's an animal. Seriously though, you know me, I'm not scared to fight anybody but I would not fuck with that guy. Ever. He's like a big southern teddy bear…that will crush you like a grape if you piss him off."

"Yeah, I definitely would not want to have to square off with him." He gave a good-humored chuckle. "Lucky me, instead I got paired up with you to beat on every day."

"Ha. Ha. You just wait, you'll get what's coming to you. I'm like one of those AI in the movies, the longer you fight me the more ways I learn how to beat you."

"In that case, you'd better speed up that processing buddy, it's already been four weeks if you haven't noticed."

I groaned loudly as I conceded defeat. Not many people could out-snark me but Vega definitely had me beat in that category. "What about Mitch? You see him fight at all these last few days?"

"Yeah I did, little bastard's quick I'll give him that. Saw him taking on a guy about our size a couple days ago, kid tried to bull rush Woley and he just dropped flat on his back, grabbed the dude's arm and threw him. Guy went flying head over heels and next thing you know the little shit's on top of the poor bastard beating the crap out of him. Almost felt sorry for the guy. But yeah, Woley's a wonder kid, all the instructors love him and everything he does is near-perfect. If the guy wasn't the nicest person I've ever met and an angel incapable of doing wrong, I'd probably hate him."

"Yeah he even helped me pass the damn swim test. If he can do that then I don't know what he can't do." I stroked my chin. "Why did he even join the Marines? He's way too nice for it. Me, I'm an ex-gang member running from his past who also happens to be a sarcastic asshole with biotics who can fight and shoot a little bit. You said you were growing up on the streets too so you know how to fight and college I'm assuming was out of the question. Vandel, first off he's eight damn feet tall so there's that. Plus he was a football player too and they've all got a bit of a crazy streak so you know he's up for a good brawl even though he hides it pretty well with the whole," I raised my fingers in the classic air quote formation. "'Southern nice guy,' thing he's got going for him. Us four, we get out of here in a couple months, we're going for drinks and then we're getting in a bar brawl. I mean come on, we've got a gentle giant, a fragile speedster and two heavies from the streets. One of whom can take a beating and just keep fighting and the other is a biotic. We'd kick so much ass, it'd be glorious."

"Let's do it."

**A/N: Thank you flash drives for saving my ass. So as you probably gathered from that last statement my laptop crapped out on me last night. In a rare moment of actual forethought for me I decided to go pick up a flash drive a couple weeks ago and copied all my WiSC material to it…oh yeah, that, "school," stuff too. *Gives the Sammy Sosa HR celebration* (props to you if you know what I'm talking about)**

**Happy early Thanksgiving errbody, hope you have an awesome time following the ancient American tradition of meeting with family, watching football and eating exorbitant quantities of food…I know I will. To my non-US readers...you guys have an alright time too, if you're disappointed about not having a holiday just point and laugh at the ten pounds I'm going to gain.**

**CMitts, out!**

**Ranger Station Charlie: I don't want to give anything away but I've written through mid-2179 and as of then he is still in the Alliance, whether or not he remains there is yet to be seen ;)**

**Unity9: Yup, balancing out making sure that boot camp developed Wolf and the supporting cast but didn't drag on too long was tough. I definitely struggled a bit but if there's one thing that I've learned it's just that I have to keep writing because otherwise I'll spend forever obsessing over a couple paragraphs. And as for the last week…it might just have some fighty stuff going on so that'll be fun.**


	11. Don't Take Your Guns to Town

_***Italicized**_** text means it's a typed message***

"_Can you talk? I just got done for the day so I have a bit of time." _I finished typing up the message to Emma on the computers downstairs and sent it off to her. I leaned back and twiddled my thumbs while I waited for her response.

"Ooh who you talking to? That your girlfriend?"

"She's not my girlfriend, it's nothing serious. We just went on a date like normal people do and decided to stay in touch while I'm in camp. And quit hovering Mitch, you're acting like an eight year old." I shoved him backwards and turned towards the screen again.

"Is this the girl who saved your life during the incident?" I nodded. "Dude you're such an idiot."

"What are you talking about?"

He heaved an overly dramatic sigh and pulled up a chair next to me and sit in it the wrong way so his arms were resting on the back and he was straddling the seat. "If you put her through all that shit and she still wants to talk to you then she definitely likes you."

"Really, you think so?"

"Yeah, I know so, take some advice from the doctor of love, girls don't just stay around and chat every night if they don't like you. Especially with what you put her through. You're a decent looking guy, can make conversation and you're just sarcastic enough to have a sense of humor about things but fall short of a-hole category, for the most part at least. Plus you've got the whole, 'troubled guy with a heart of gold running from his past,' thing going on. Girls love a guy with a bit of mystery."

"Yeah whatever love doctor, what makes you the expert on this stuff?"

"I talk to my sister about things. You might not believe it but girls are actually not that complicated, you talk to one about things and it actually kind of makes sense."

"Huh. I'll just have to take your word for it on that one, I still don't get girls at all. I know if it was me and I went on a date with somebody, they got jumped by a bunch of thugs then I got tied up in a huge brawl I might be a little bit hesitant to keep talking to them."

He just shrugged a little bit. "Yeah that doesn't make much sense to me either, I didn't say I know everything about women. I just know enough to get by." He paused for a moment. "What's her name?"

"Emma Perri."

At that moment a ding from the computer announced a new message. "_Hey just got home from running some errands, what's up ;)"_

"Ooh, she sent a winky face."

I turned around to where Mitch was grinning like a madman. "Shut up. I like her and I don't you need trying to help and ruining things."

"Aww you're no fun. If it makes you feel better I promise I will not ruin things."

"Thank you." Turning back to the computer screen I started typing. "_Nothing much, just got done with getting my ass kicked in hand-to-hand drills, so just having good times over here in sunny California. Have a bit of time to video chat?"_

In response to that a message asking if I wanted to video chat with Emma Perri appeared. Yes. The smiling face of the brunette almost instantly appeared and she tucked a couple stray hairs behind her ear. "Hey Nate, how's your week been?"

"Oh you know, rappelled down walls, practiced with rifles, fought some people and got tear gassed. So, pretty average week overall I'd say. How about you?"

She chuckled a little bit. "Working at the recruiting center and then college life so I think I've got you beat in the excitement factor. Everything's going great though. Finishing up my last year of nursing school and then as of today I found out I've got a full-time job at one of the hospitals here in Detroit locked up so just another half-year of school then I'm out and doing what I've always wanted."

"That's so awesome!" At this point I was interrupted by a certain blonde-haired individual shoving my chair over and inserting himself right next to me.

"Hi, you must be Emma, Nate's girlfriend."

He was interrupted by both Emma and I talking at the same time.

"Yup."

"She's not my…oh, ok then. Cool."

"It's really nice to meet you Emma, Wolf here talks about you all the time."

She gave a big smile at that. "All good I hope?"

"Of course, he says you saved his life in addition to being caring, gentle and gorgeous so yeah, pretty good I'd say."

"Oh, is that true Nate?

I scratched the back of my head awkwardly. "Yeah, I guess I did. And this is Mitch Woley, he was the guy I told you about who helped me out with the swimming week."

"And saved his ass from quitting in the gassing room."

"Yeah that too, and he also promised specifically that he would **not **ruin things before this." I leveled a glare at the blonde that had murderous intent.

Mitch turned to me with a put on look of shocked hurt on his face. "I clearly have not ruined things though. I made friendly conversation and got you an official girlfriend, so that's definitely not considered ruining things in my book."

Emma coughed loudly to try and get us back on track. "Well, regardless Mitch, I'm very happy that Nate found somebody there to help him past his many phobias since I can't be there to coax him through it. Did he tell you about how when I had to give him a shot he had his eyes closed the whole time?"

Mitch laughed loudly. "No, he forgot to tell me about that. So Wolf, your biggest weaknesses are water and needles? That's good to know."

"What is this, gang up on Nate time?"

"Yup."

"Pretty much."

"Well, fine then."

I pouted a little bit as the two of them laughed loudly. "Well, I'm out of here. Emma, it was wonderful meeting you, Nate has very good taste in his female friends and I'm really sorry that you're stuck with this idiot."

She gave a little shrug. "Yeah he's alright I guess, I'll keep him for now. Even if he tries to hide it with the smart-ass tough guy act, I think he's just trying to hide the fact that he's a big softie."

"Just pretend you didn't hear that Mitch. I'm a cold-blooded killer."

He gave a small chuckle at our back and forth banter. "That's another thing I'll have to add to my list about Wolf here, he's a big teddy bear." Mitch waved as he left the computer display. "I'll catch you guys later. Oh, and the computers are shutting down in a minute anyway so hurry up and say what you want to say."

"Thanks Woley."

I looked back to the computer display where Emma was smiling lightly. "So, he's a nice guy. How'd you two meet?"

"Well, we were next to each other on the bus, got to talking, and now we're sharing a room too so it kind of just worked out this way that now we're stuck together. Hey, you haven't had any trouble with the Reds right? I let Jack know the situation too, you have any trouble go to him and he'll help."

"Everything's fine Wolf. I'm a big girl." She sounded a little exasperated at my continued worrying about the subject. "No trouble here whatsoever but I appreciate the concern, anything happens I'll go to the Armory."

"Good, and this next week I don't know how often I'll be able to talk. We're going to be **really** busy with tests and stuff so I won't be able to call or anything."

"Ok, well I heard Mitch say they're shutting things down there so I'll let you go." She gave a little wave which I returned.

"I'll talk to you later Em, have a good night."

"G'night Nate."

Closing the display I walked back upstairs to where Mitch, Jimmy and Ben were sitting around studying. Mitch looked up as I entered the room. "Pop quiz, what's the battalion slogan?"

I sighed as I sat down next to him and got ready for a long period of studying. "Whatever it takes."

**LINE BREAK**

The next week went by surprisingly fast for being composed strictly of tests on our knowledge of Marine history, customs and close order drills designed to test how well our platoon functioned as a group instead of testing our individual mettle. I'm not going to lie, the first couple days of drilling as a team were pretty rough, the instructors spent hours telling us how bad our form looked compared to that of the other units. I didn't even know there were that many synonyms for fecal matter in the English language but by the end of it I was familiar with every one of them I think. Despite the unorganized launch, by about Thursday evening things were cooking and we finally began to work together as a cohesive team. They still chewed us out for some flaws every now and then but hey, that's their job right.

The individual written testing went fine too. I passed at least, once again in what seems to be a growing trend, mostly thanks to Mitch. He had organized a get together for anybody who wanted to sit down and study, all of us from the room were there and a few other guys from the platoon even joined in too. I don't know how close I was to failing since they gave everybody a simple yes or no but I'm pretty sure I just scraped by. Memorizing what seemed to me to be useless stuff that I wouldn't really practice once I was through this boot camp was not my strong point. I did make it though and that's all matters in the end right?

Apparently our platoon was also getting graded on how orderly we looked in the initial drill which I did not know until we received them. Here this whole time I thought they were just comparing us to the others for shits and giggles. Even though our first half was utter trash, we ended up finishing in the top third. Above average, guess I'll take that. This was just the start of our inter-platoon rivalries as Jackson informed us that through the upcoming weeks we would be going head-to-head pretty frequently. She also informed us that if we didn't do the three instructors proud and kick the shit out of the other platoons we would not want to know what would happen. The fact that we never really knew what would actually transpire if we disappointed her actually made things a little scarier somehow. The woman loved making vague threats and she was just daunting enough to make it work in her favor.

Thankfully, all four of us successfully made it through the first week of, "Phase Two," and now for the next two weeks we were going to begin doing what I'm sure every single recruit here has wanted to do since they handed us Lancers to take care of and call our own. We were going to shoot live ammunition at actual targets. Hell. Yes. No more of this bull shit sighting on imaginary objects and field-stripping our rifles twenty-four seven. Two whole weeks of shooting shit was exactly what I needed after seven straight days of quizzes and marching.

**LINE BREAK**

They lied to me. They took us out on the grassy fields with our rifles, they set up targets and we aimed, no actual shooting. Still. "This is bull. Short stuff!" Mitch sighed and looked away from the iron sights of the M7 with a look that said, "Seriously?" "I thought you said we were going to be firing this week. What happened? I want to shoot something, it's been five whole weeks of messing with these things and we still haven't fired one freaking bullet. What the hell man?"

"One." He pulled his hand away from the bottom of the weapon and help up his index finger. "Quit it with the damn short jokes. If they were ever funny at any point, they aren't now. I'm not that short, it's not my fault I'm stuck with you, James and Big Ben the kindly colossus."

I laughed loudly which garnered a few nasty looks from some other recruits who were busy sighting targets downrange which I gladly returned. "Nice alliteration there."

"Thanks, it did kind of roll of the tongue once I started with it. But anyway, you keep making wisecracks and maybe I'll start calling you guys, "Gigantor," or something stupid like that."

"I'm fine with that, I'll check with the others later."

"Second." And here he leaned towards me and spoke in a very alarming mixture of whisper and yell. "I'm not. Your fucking. Drill instructor! Go check with Speirs if you need to be informed in advance of your schedule. In fact, here he comes right now."

The grizzled man stepped up beside the two of us, crouched, leaned in close and spoke in a conspiratorial whisper. "Is there something I should know recruits. You two look like you've got some big secret so why don't you share it with me?"

"No sir Instructor Speirs, no secrets here. I was just asking my good friend Mitch here for some tips on my stance and properly snapping in on targets, any advice of your own sir?"

"Yeah." He paused and took a step back from Mitch and me. His voice here rose from the whisper to a classic drill instructor yell that could be heard throughout the range. "Go prone recruits."

I got down on the grass and set up to "fire" at the target. Once I felt comfortable I looked down the sights, steadied them in the center mass of the target and gently squeezed the trigger until I heard a click. I might not be an expert with firearms but Jack taught me that much at least. You jerk the trigger and the shot will go wide the vast majority of the time.

"No, no, no, that's all wrong." Speirs got down into the grass next to me and assumed a prone position. "Gimme the rifle recruit." I quickly handed it over to him without protest. "Now look, your left arm is splayed way out to the side, you start firing real rounds and that thing is jerking all over the place. What you wanna do is have it centered. Your elbow makes a ninety degree angle, like this. And the rifle rests in your hand just like if you had a bipod set up. Another thing, you're lying flat on your stomach. Every time you breathe your chest's going up and down and so is the rifle. It might not seem like much but you put a scope with some zoom on that thing and you find out real fast how big the variance is. It's the difference between hitting the chest and hitting the legs, or even missing completely. When you're down," he hesitated and looked over towards me, "you're shooting righty aren't you?"

"Yes sir."

"Good, that makes it easier. You just want to mirror my movements here. The left leg stays pretty straight but your right leg bends and you actually want to push up on that leg a little bit so your chest is off the ground. That way the breathing won't interfere with the angle of the shot. Got it?"

"Yes sir I think I do."

"Good. Show me." I got down and went to grab the Lancer but was interrupted by the Staff Lieutenant. "No. Do it without the gun first, makes it easier that way to correct."

I put my left elbow out directly in front of me and held my hand out as if I was cradling an imaginary weapon. After that I tucked the leg like he was saying and lifted just a bit so that the right side of my body was off the ground. "How does that look sir?" He moved around me in a circle, adjusting a leg here, an arm here.

"Not bad recruit, here's the rifle. Just keep practicing like that, might seem unnatural at first but the more you do it the more comfortable it gets so keep at it." With that he moved on down the line, helping some other recruit in the platoon out with their own positioning.

Alright let's try this again. Elbow at ninety degrees. Right leg bent. Chest off the ground. Sights on target, and…click.

**LINE BREAK**

The next week went by much the same as the first day. We walked out to the field every day and spent hours on end with the LT instructing us on how to be as efficient and accurate as possible from the standing, sitting, kneeling and prone positions. I did get a nice tan from it too as a bonus, Cali definitely has Detroit beat pretty easily in the whole weather thing. After a couple days in they issued us M3 Predators, the basic Alliance sidearm, to practice with in addition to the rifles we were already using. This felt much more natural to me as, thanks to Jack insisting I learn how to shoot if I was going to pull stupid crap pretty regularly, I had already practiced with the thing fairly extensively. I'd messed with rifles a bit but nowhere near as much as with pistols. Still, no real action yet. That all changed Monday of the following week though when, in addition to Speirs, Commander Jackson and Lieutenant Dixon were there to help with the instructing.

"Listen up recruits because I am not going to repeat myself twice. Coming this Friday there will be another test, you will all be qualifying to fire with a sidearm in addition to the assault rifle class weapons you've been handling for weeks. Now, in addition to a passing grade being a necessary part of continuing with your training, these scores will also be a reflection on the platoon as a whole. Our performance in the close order drills were considered only adequate and for that I blame myself. I know that I personally am not satisfied with being just adequate and I assume my two fellow instructors aren't either," both of the Marines shook their heads indicating a negative response, "but maybe you recruits are fine with just being adequate, is that so?"

The entire field exploded in a loud cry of, "No ma'am."

"Good, I didn't think so but I just wanted to make sure before we started. Now we have four days to whip you recruits into shape and to practice turning those targets before you into highly perforated pieces of shit that are unfit for further use. Now for the next few days we are going to fire and keep firing until you can't feel your shoulder and your arms are shaking. Some other platoons out there might bitch about it but you recruits are part of the 1031st platoon, 1st battalion and what do you do?"

"Whatever it takes!"

"Damn straight. Let's begin." At that half of us jogged forward and stood by our rifles, which were loaded with an ammo block for the first time all camp, at the assigned positions and the other half stood with a pair of optical lenses to spot for the shooter as we'd have to be adjusting sights based on shot placement. I stood next to Ben as we prepared for the specific orders to be given to start shooting. "Alright, to start off each of you with rifles will fire off twenty rounds and adjust based on placement. Repeat that twice more and then switch shooters and do the same." She looked towards Kerry and William who were standing up at either end of the range, flanking us recruits. "All clear?"

After a few seconds both of them gave the thumbs up. "Range is hot recruits, fire your twenty shots and regroup with your partner afterwards, we instructors will be checking up on you as time goes."

I settled in next to the big Alabama native who was settling down with his Lancer in a near textbook prone position. "You look like you've done this a couple times before big guy."

"Yeah, dad and I used to shoot all the time back home. Hunting, shooting trap, stationary targets, it didn't really matter. We always had a good time getting away from things and out in nature." He took his eyes away from the sight and looked towards me. "You ready to spot? I'm gonna be shooting a few in quick succession so be ready."

"Just say the word."

"Perfect, here we go." He settled back down and after making sure that everything looked good, fired off a few quick shots that broke the stillness in the air.

I peered down the sights for the bullet holes. "You hit it low left of center mass with all five, pretty tight cluster."

Ben gave a little grunt before firing off another quick three bursts. "That was twenty, how do we look?"

"Well." I scrutinized the board through the lens. "You have a pretty nice grouping, all around that first burst. I'd say that you're left by just over a half foot and low by a foot and a half, assuming you were trying to put things center mass of course."

"Yeah I was putting the crosshairs right on the chest so I'm going to have to adjust the sights a lil' bit. Can you hand me the tool?"

"Yeah, sure thing buddy." I reached over and grabbed the adjusting device from the table near our position. "That was some nice shooting by the way. You get those damn sights straight and that thing's hitting right in the chest."

"Thanks. Like I said, my pops taught me how to shoot ever since I could hold a rifle so it's like second nature to me." He held up his right hand which was holding the adjuster and handed it back to me. "Ready for another go?"

"Fire at will."

After the alterations made to the sights Vandel's shots were now on the correct level vertically but actually a few inches right horizontally. Once again I handed the thing back to the brown haired recruit and he went to work making some miniscule adjustments. "Alright here we go."

He started shooting, this time however the shots were going right where he wanted. "First five, center mass." Another burst of gunfire. "Once again, right in the chest." Here he started really picking his shots as instead of the five round bursts he was now shooting only one or two bullets at a time. "Head. Head. Head. Right arm. Left arm. Right leg. Left leg. Seriously, why'd you have to shoot the guy there? Oh now you're just showing off."

He stood up from his position on his stomach and ejected the ammo block from the Lancer, heaving a contented sigh as he did. "That felt good." He looked over the rifle almost lovingly. "This is a good rifle. I think I'll give her a name."

"Wait, her?"

"Yeah she's clearly female. Just look at this piece of hardware. And I'm calling her Juliette, Jules for short."

I exhaled loudly as I settled in behind my own unnamed weapon. "Hey man, it's your weapon you do what you want. I'm still just calling mine by its' actual name."

He peered down the scope towards the fresh new target they had put in place while we were chatting. As I looked down the rifle towards the target I heard Jackson announcing from behind that all shooters were now changed and the range is once again hot. Squeezing the trigger I fired off a quick four shots and felt the recoil as the Lancer kicked back into my shoulder. Eh, not too bad actually.

"Yeah, I'm not seeing anything buddy."

"Shit, I'll shoot it again, get ready."

Once again I fired, and still, no results. "Hey Wolf, try just firing single shots. We're going to need to make some serious adjustments to that bastard. Put one to the right of the target." Nothing. "Try left." Nope. "Alright, try putting it high I think I know the problem. Aim for the crown of the head."

After the advice from Vandel I put the sights so that they were resting on the figure's head. "Here we go again. Firing, one, two and three."

"Yeah, there we go. You're kicking up dirt right at the base of the target. Actually looks pretty centered though, we'll just have to knock it up about four feet. I fired another few shots that were still at the base of the target, with only one or two managing to just barely scrape the feet. "Alright Nate, these last few shots put the bottom arc of the sights right on top of the head and fire single shots. I want to really get an idea of how far up we need to adjust this.

Following his instructions I fired my last five shots one at a time, hitting the target right in the shins. Like Ben said though it was actually pretty much centered so I wasn't going to have to change much in that regard. "Alright, my turn." He handed the gadget over and I fiddled with the sights, adjusting them so that the shots would actually be landing where the sights said, in theory anyway. At this point I was pretty much guessing since I didn't really have much data to go off of. "I can't wait 'till we get to firing pistols, rifles aren't really my thing."

I fired off another twenty and this time the shots were hitting right in the crotch. Ouch. Again I went through adjustments and moved it up the tiniest bit, hopefully it was correct this time. I shot burst after burst until the twenty shots were used up. "Not too bad, I think they all landed, and in pretty close proximity to the chest. It looks like you're letting those bursts force your shots up though, a lot of 'em were tailing upwards. Make sure you're really tucking that stock into your shoulder, that'll help. Overall though, not too shabby."

"Thanks for the tips, at least I'll have a few more days to get it right."

**LINE BREAK**

"Now this is more like it." Two full days had passed and the big test on Friday was drawing ever closer, but right now all that mattered was the fully loaded M3 Predator that I held in my right hand, ready to fire. "I sure hope the sights on this are ready to go because I know I am. You ready Mitch?" He gave a thumbs-up as he scrutinized the target through the lens.

I firmly pulled the trigger, trying to find the actual draw spot where the projectile was launched. A single gunshot rang out across the field. "Right in the chest. Chest. Chest. Chest again. Torso. Upper body. Umm, rib cage. Another synonym for the upper part of the body. Oh, you switched it up and hit it in the chest. Hey there we go, head shot to finish it up. Nice shooting buddy."

I ejected the ammo block as I stepped away from my shooting position and gave the pistol a little spin before setting it down on a nearby table. "I love shooting pistols, probably a bit too much to be honest, I'll take this over those bulky AR's any day of the week. There's just something about it comes really naturally to me, can't really explain it." I kept shooting for the next fifteen minutes and pretty consistently drilled the thing in either the chest or head. The only times I think I missed was when I was trying to get a bit too cute and call shots to the hand and stuff like that.

"You're up Mitch." I settled in and got ready to experience supremacy over the little blond bastard for the first time all camp. I'd been shooting pistols since I was thirteen and there was no way that I was not going to outperform him in this one, specialized category. Of course he then preceded to hit the board for the next twenty minutes straight repeatedly in the torso and cranium. Sighing to myself, I mentally resigned the fact that Mitch was practically just as good a shot in my area of expertise. I don't think he's human, at least he's still short so I'll always have him beat in one thing, even if it's something he can't help. I'll take moral victories at this point.

As he turned around after the last bit of shooting with the Predator, a big shit-eating grin was plastered on his smug face. Ejecting the ammunition he gave the gun a twirl in a manner that seemed fairly familiar before he put it away. "Y'know, it seems I'm not too bad a shot with the pistol myself. Imagine that." He fiddled around some more with the pistol, happily whistling to himself the whole time, obviously extremely pleased with himself.

"Hey Mitch?"

"What's up?"

"Go fuck yourself."

**LINE BREAK**

Finally, it was Thursday night and the week of drilling with guns was over, the test was now coming tomorrow morning. Ben, Mitch and I were all lounging on our bunks in the room, taking the precious opportunity to get some rest. We were chatting about the usual, how drills were going, life back home, girls and what we were going to do afterwards. Abruptly, Mitch rolled over and asked a question.

"So, you're uh…using your pistol. What's your technique?"

I turned and looked at him. "What do you mean?"

"Well, I mean you're right handed right?"

"Yeah."

"So I mean how do you," He paused and scratched his head, looking for the right word. "Shoot."

"I just use one hand, I'm usually turned a little bit to steady myself."

I heard Ben from below me roll over and give a little yawn. "What are you two yapping about?"

"Mitch wants to know what techniques you use for shooting your pistol." I answered.

"Oh. Two hands, one near the top, one near the bottom."

Rolling over the side of the bed I leaned my head over and looked at him. "Don't you find that your hands are pretty cramped when you do that? For me, the handle's a bit too small to fit both on the grip comfortably."

"I make it work." He gave a little shrug. "I tuck the bottom one under it a little bit."

"Gotcha." I lay back down and stared at the ceiling blankly. "How 'bout you Woley?"

"Two hands. One on the grip and one for the top."

"Top?" A confused look must have crossed my face as I sat up rapidly and looked at the diminutive blonde. "Doesn't the slide get in the way?"

In turn he got off the bed and looked over at me, face just as puzzled as I'm sure mine was. "Slide? What are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about shooting a pistol. What are **you **talking about?"

Our little chat was interrupted by Big Ben who had by this point burst out laughing uncontrollably and had managed to roll off of his mattress and onto the hard floor below. A loud thump could be heard as all six foot eight of him hit the ground.

"What the hell is going on in here?" Jimmy Vega walked into the room only to find Ben still in his near-hysterical state and Woley and I engaged in an awkward staring contest.

I just gave a little shrug. "You know, I really just don't know anymore."

**A/N: Happy Black Friday to those in the US and just regular Friday to everybody else. We're about halfway through camp now, few more chapters and then it'll be onto MOS training. I've also got some news *dramatic fanfare* Ranger Station Charlie out of the kindness of his heart has become my unofficial Beta so shout-out to him. He messaged me a few days ago with some ideas of his own and since then we've been brainstorming about the future of the story, Wolf's capabilities and all that good stuff so big thanks to him for all the help.**

**Unity9: I hate swimming…that is one of the only similarities that Wolf and I share is our fear and loathing of water. Dread filled me every time my Mom would gather us into the car for lessons.**


	12. Jarhead

I exhaled deeply as I got into the prone position. Today was qualifying day and to progress with training I had to do well otherwise the whole damn thing would have to be done over. For the initial testing it was only the Predator and Lancer we were shooting with but they said we'd have a chance to train with other weapons later, assuming we made it through camp. The pistol portion I blazed through pretty easily and I think I might've made expert qualification with it, but if not then at least sharpshooter for sure. Rifles were a whole different story. The standing, kneeling and sitting portions were complete and the only portion left to finish was the one I was currently in, laying down on my stomach prone.

Speirs was standing over me making sure that everything was being done by the book and giving the instructions on what was being done each round of shooting. "Alright recruit, let's finish strong here. Twenty shots from your belly at each distance, I'll keep count and let you know once you're getting close so you don't fire off too many. So, whenever you're ready we can begin." He bent over and handed me the ammo block which I inserted into the rifle and prepared to fire.

I still was not confident in my abilities with the rifle but so help me I'm going to pass this if it kills me. I aligned the sights of the rifle with the center of the target and squeezed lightly. The rifle kicked back as I fired my first and only shot, for this one I was definitely firing one at a time as I'd need all the help I can get with putting rounds on target. I put out shot after shot until the twenty were up and they put the target further away from me and then repeated the whole thing over again. They repeated this two more times and each time I took some extra time between each shot to settle my nerves, the tension was fucking killing me.

Eventually I got through, pulled away from the range and stood up, wiping the sweat from my forehead as I did so. The fact that I was perspiring really surprised me since I had literally not moved from my position for about fifteen to twenty minutes. I was about to go through my usual post-shooting routine of ejecting the ammo block, cleaning it and all that when I was interrupted by the drill instructor.

"Hold up." He raised his hand and indicated for me to follow him. "One more test to go through before you're done. And you know what, you can actually go ahead and eject that." I released it as we walked and he began to talk again as we got closer to some structures that I had not yet seen. "Last bit here is a sort of simulation run-through. You are going to go from one end of the course to the other and shoot the bad guys while not hitting the good guys. Simple enough?"

"Yes sir."

We stepped inside out of the hot California weather and instantly I was hit by a blast of cool air. That is so much better. "Alright, now the entire course is laid out so that you really can't get turned around but if you do I will be watching on the monitors and will shout out instructions to you to set you straight. Go through that door there and put in the ammo block on the table, it'll register your hits and misses."

"Got it, anything else I should know heading in sir?"

"Manage your heat levels, watch your corners, be alert and just do your best. As soon as you're ready you can begin."

I headed through the door which opened automatically as I approached. The only thing in the tiny room I was in was the table with the ammo block Speirs had mentioned before I walked in and a door straight across from me. I quickly inserted the block and stood by the door for a second. Taking a few deep breaths I closed my eyes and mentally prepared for whatever was on the other side.

Once the door opened I quickly surveyed the large, brightly lit warehouse I found myself in. I took a few couple steps forward gingerly and the digital representation of a turian wielding a large weapon appeared in front of me. I quickly brought up the rifle in my hands and fired a few shots that nailed it in the chest, the result of which was the target fizzling out and disappearing completely. There was a short pause and after that all hell broke loose as what sounded like rifle fire deafened my ears and the sound of someone shouting over the loudspeakers, "Get to cover," could be heard. Deciding to take his advice, I ran up to a chest high barricade which I steadied my shoulder against before leaning out and surveying what was happening.

Three armored individuals with shotguns were rushing at me. What the fuck. I quickly fired at the targets on the center and right before disappearing again behind cover so I'd have some protection while I waited for the rifle to cool down. There we go. I completely came out from cover this time and hit the oncoming soldier with fire from the Lancer as I moved, causing the program to disappear before I continued past, sprinting forward. Several more random objects that could be used as cover passed by before I came to another door. I hit the button to open it and waited, as soon as it was clear I rushed in, rifle pressed against my shoulder. I almost pulled the trigger before noticing that the two objects were unarmed and instead holding some random objects. I'm not going to lie, I really didn't have the time to inspect what exactly it was that they had.

Passing the civilians I came around a corner and went down some stairs before I paused at the corner and peeked out with the Lancer. Once again, gunfire sounded and I sprang back behind the wall. Taking a quick breath I ran over to an overturned table and ducked behind it. I was now being bull rushed for a second time. I fired two quick bursts, one for each of them, before continuing on through the course. After passing by a couple familiar looking civilians I came to a wooden door labeled, "kick," well here we go.

I took a couple steps back before starting forward and kicking near the handle of the door and to my shock the door caved in at that point. Huh, didn't think I could do that. Instead of the usual holographs, this time a four-eyed alien was holding a gun to a man's head. I hesitated briefly before a voice blared from the speakers. "Drop your weapon or I'll shoot!" Once again, I was stuck deciding. Was this some kind of test to see how well I followed orders or something? "I said drop the weapon!"

Screw that, they put me in a marksmanship test I'm shooting. I whipped the rifle from my hips up to my shoulder and fired four bullets at the alien's exposed upper body, carefully pulling the trigger each shot to get as much precision as possible. After anxiously waiting a few seconds for results, the man stayed in place while the hostage taker's representation disappeared. Holy shit…can't believe I actually made that shot. I might not get it if I tried it again ten times in a row. Exhaling loudly I wiped the fluid that had accumulated from the short exercise and continued through the door marked, "exit."

I walked up to where both Speirs and Jackson were looking at monitors reviewing my work. As I approached the head instructor looked over. "You know, over eighty-five percent of all recruits who ran the course dropped their weapon as soon as we played that over the loudspeaker. You however did not, explain yourself."

"Ma'am, the uh," I paused trying to look for a word to describe the things they had set up, "hostile, clearly had aggressive intentions and I highly doubted that if I dropped the weapon he would have let the hostage go. Plus I made the shot, I might not be the best shooter on the range with a rifle but in high-pressure situations I've performed well in the past."

"Fair enough." She gave a little shrug.

"That's it?" I shook my head to try and clear up the confusion that was running through my head. "I'm not getting chewed out for not following orders or something like that? I just get a 'fair enough?'" I looked over to where the two were standing expectantly. "Uh, ma'am."

"Yeah, you made the shot. Bad guys are dead. You know what the point of this exercise is after all the controlled firing scenarios previously to this?"

"No ma'am."

"It's to see how well you can adapt. You had some idea of what was going on but you had to do things on the fly." At my obviously confused look, she sighed loudly and face palmed. "The point is that war is not pretty you idiot. You get into bad situations and sometimes you have to make your own decisions."

A dawning look of comprehension crossed my face. "I understand ma'am."

"Good." She pointed a finger in my face, and returned quickly to her default modus operandi. "But if you ever disobey my orders while you are in camp I will kick your ass so badly that you will not know your backside from your front side, are we clear?"

"Crystal clear, Instructor Jackson ma'am."

"Now get out of my sight." I started to exit the warehouse but before I could step back out into the sunny weather I was interrupted. "Oh, and you passed qualification for both pistols and rifles so good job. Instructor Speirs here will be going over the details of each and every one of you later on."

**LINE BREAK**

"Recruit Wolfert, step forward." Lieutenant Speirs handed me a datapad with scores on it. It simply read: rifle, marksman grade, pistol, expert grade. I had made expert with two points to spare. He handed over two badges, one for the rifle, which was a large square with a bullseye in the center. The other one, for pistol expert, was simply two crossed pistols. "If and when you graduate you will wear these upon your dress uniform, until then you will keep them with the possessions we have given you."

"Thank you sir." I saluted and stood with the rest of the recruits who had already received their grades. Thanks to my last name and the fact they were going alphabetically, I was one of the last few called up and the rest finished receiving grades shortly thereafter.

After everyone had gone Instructor Jackson stepped up to the podium and to my shock, and I'm pretty sure everyone else's too, she was absolutely beaming. "Listen up recruits, all of you have done an excellent job these last two weeks learning the basics of firing and today each and every one of you is going to be rewarded today for the hard work you have put into your training. All those hours out there on the range sweating your ass off in this god-forsaken heat was to prove what I already knew. That you bastards are the best recruits in this whole damn camp. You guys won the platoon award for best marksmanship!" She pulled out a large golden trophy over her head and held it aloft for everyone to see. "This," she gave the trophy a little shake for emphasis, "is what happens when you come together as a team and have every single man, or woman, putting everything they have into accomplishing a common goal. Every single one of you is going to have your name on this piece of hardware for as long as the Alliance is still kicking ass and that's going to be for a long damn time. That's something you can share with your kids when they grow up, that you were the best Marines in the entire damn camp. I sincerely hope that this spurs each and every one of you onto bigger and better things and I will be watching your progress eagerly."

As the entire team roared in thunderous approval I felt a surge of pride in my chest at being honored. For probably the first time in my life I truly felt what it was to be a team, part of something greater than myself. In my past all I was worried about was looking out for number one but I think at that moment it really clicked that there might be something to this whole, "camaraderie," thing. I could've hugged every single person there, even Instructor Jackson as dire as the consequences might have been, at that moment, I really did not care.

At that moment, Lieutenant Dixon stepped up to the podium. "Congratulations recruits, you all have the night off as a reward before returning to your normally scheduled duties on Saturday. Enjoy the break and keep up the good work gentlemen."

I walked back to the room with the rest of the guys who were observing their qualification badges. Mitch had received sharpshooter grades with both rifles and pistols, Jimmy had a sharpshooter rifle and marksman pistol and Ben scored best of all of us with an expert and then sharpshooter. "Just out of curiosity, did you guys get that same grand finale to the rifle test where they ran you through that gauntlet?" When all three answered affirmatively I continued on. "So, what'd you guys do? Right at the end I mean."

"Eh, I put the gun down."

"Same here."

"Yeah, well I drilled the bastard right between his four eyes. Took him right out."

"No shit? I did the same thing too." I gave Vega a little fist bump. "Did they ask why you shot? I know they questioned me as soon as I got out of there."

"Yeah, I said that I didn't go through a marksmanship qualifier to not shoot things so I considered it just a little added difficulty spike to spice things up a bit."

"Huh." I scratched my head a little bit in confusion. "I fed 'em some BS line about the hologram having, 'hostile intentions,' and that it was going to shoot the hostage or something like that. Now that I say that out loud it sounds really stupid, made much more sense in my head." I looked back towards James. "And they were fine with your answer too? That doesn't seem right, one of us had to be wrong since our answers couldn't have been more different."

The brown haired Alabama native chimed in at that point, breaking the silence. "Maybe they just wanted you to have a reason for why you did it?"

"That does make sense I guess, I think I just really don't understand the instructors at all is what the problem is." I quickly corrected myself. "Scratch that, I don't understand Commander Jackson, the woman can be the friendliest person on Earth one minute and looking like she wants to rip your face off the next."

"Yeah I hear you." Vega shrugged.

"I know what you mean." Ben gave a sympathetic look.

"No shit." Mitch, just looked at me like I was stating a fundamental rule of the universe.

**LINE BREAK**

The next couple weeks flew by. Week eight had passed which, strangely enough, consisted mostly of cleaning up around the various parts of the base. If I had to guess they probably were just giving us a little break before they put us through hell for the last few weeks. They also did some final checks on our medical information like seeing if we had any serious injuries, looking at bio-amps for those who had them and making sure the genetic modifications were going ok and not killing anyone, little stuff like that.

Phase three began in week nine. Everything we had learned so far was touched on to make sure that we were doing it correctly and in coordination. We started firing from the range again pretty frequently except this time they tried to make it a little more like it would be in a combat scenario. No more stationary targets, shooting was done from a new stance, a kind of low crouch that they called a, "combat stance," and for the bio-kids, refining our biotic techniques so that they could practically be done in your sleep. They taught us how to erect a makeshift tent to sleep in out in the field, the basics of camouflaging yourself, how to properly move on the battlefield, basic tactics and even how to navigate on land using Alliance standard equipment just to name a few of the myriad of things they taught us.

The best part though was the fact that we now got to compete with teams from other platoons in small-scale tactical engagements, without using real bullets of course. The whole thing being overseen by the instructors to make sure nothing got too heated.

I yelled loudly so as to be heard over the non-lethal gunfire. Even though it wouldn't kill you, the sounds of the rifles were still deafening and the kinetic slugs used would still hurt like hell. "Vega! Little help here buddy I'm pinned down."

The projectiles pinged all around my large, metallic cover which I was extremely thankful for at the moment. Sliding in next to me a few seconds later, the large Hispanic men ducked his head down, big grin on his face the whole time. "Can I help you sir?"

"Yeah, where the hell are Woley and Ben? They tell me to move up and next thing I know I'm stuck here with three of their four guys peppering me non-stop."

Jimmy pointed out behind me to the left and indicated a long narrow structure running vertically along the battlefield. I turned and followed his hand to where I could just barely see the silhouettes of one large and one not so large soldier holding rifles. "Mitch found some good cover over that way so they're flanking from the side while you and I get the lucky task of occupying the bastards."

"That sounds like so much fun. Where's the fourth guy though?"

"Taken out by yours truly. Guy was trying to run between two spots and I got a good shot in." Jimmy peeked out from our position, probably just trying to see if the three were still in the same spot. The question was quickly answered with an increase in fire and Vega ducking his head back. "Yeah, all three are still right there. What do you say we give it back to 'em a little bit Wolf?"

I took a crouching position and got ready. "Yeah, that sounds fine. Just don't get hit, they're gonna be really exposed out there if we get taken out. Quantity over quality's what matters here, so just keep those guys busy."

"Sure thing Lobo. On three fire away."

I waited until Vega finished counting and then crept out to the side and began firing as much as the weapon would allow without overheating. To my right I could just see my partner doing the same thing out of the corner of my eye. The effect was almost instantaneous since I don't think they saw Vega join me and all three ceased their bombardment, scurrying back to cover.

It went on like this for a couple minutes with the two sides trading blows but no damage being done. "Where the hell are those two? They're starting to spread out a little bit and I don't know how much longer we can hold it."

The native Californian yelled over his shoulder as he continued to suppress the opposing team. "Don't know, should be getting close though. Good thing is I don't think the other squad knows where they are either so hopefully they're about to bust out sometime soon."

"Jimmy!" I pointed out to our left where one of their members was making a mad scramble to get to a position of elevated cover. That could be problematic. From that spot the guy could pin us down almost single-handedly and let his teammates move up to better cover uninterrupted. "Take that fucker out, I don't have a shot."

Vega leaned out from cover and was lining up his shot when he was interrupted by the recruit stopping mid-run to raise his hands skyward. "I'm out! I'm out!"

Like phantoms from a grave, Ben and Mitch rose up from the position our competitor was running straight towards. The two had managed to somehow circle around without being spotted and were now entrenched in a raised barricade absolutely blasting the crap out of the two remaining teammates left on the opposition.

"Vega, Wolf, move up on their right side to finish it off. Ben and I have got you covered."

"Right, we're moving." Vega waved his hand in a grandiose fashion. "Age before beauty, I'll keep firing from here and once you get to a good spot yell back and I'll join you."

"So kind of you buddy, just keep them down and I'll do the same when it's your turn." With that I took off, sprinting as fast as I could to try and reach a nearby beat up, rusted out old aircar that now served as a makeshift barrier for recruits like me. I heard Woley yelling from up top to cover me but that was almost unnecessary as we now had them so outmaneuvered that they could hardly put up a resistance. The car grew close and I slid on my knees in behind the driver door, making sure not to crash into the thing which is a lot harder than it sounds when you were dashing full-out a couple seconds ago. "I'm in! It's all yours now Jimmy."

He in turn took off running as I fired away, moving with surprising speed and agility for someone his size. As he approached the car, instead of stopping he continued on and simply slid across the hood which I'm not going to lie was incredibly badass. Damn showoff. He kept on going, firing as he encircled the remaining antagonists and drawing tighter the noose we had set up. One of the combatants quickly raised his hands in defeat, hit by Vega. It wasn't more than a few seconds later before the other one surrendered also, I think it was Big Ben who got the guy.

I quickly stood up, giving a little shout of celebration. All four of us gathered in the center of the battlefield and high-fived, reveling in our victory. "Nice job boys…and that, is our third straight win. I think we get officially retired if we win another two. Oh and Woley, next time don't send Jimmy here to inform me that you two are abandoning me or I will shoot you in the back without hesitation."

"Whatever Wolf, you're just mad that you didn't knock out a single guy this time. Everyone else got at least one, and I think Jimmy got two."

I laughed loudly. "Yeah, you got me. Next time **I** get to go on the flanking run though." James coughed loudly. "Fine, you can come too. Mitch, you and Ben are stuck on bullet-sponge duty next match."

A voice coming over the speakers interrupted our post-fight talk. "That's enough recruits, clear the field in preparation for the next match. Congrats on another win team."

**LINE BREAK**

Another couple weeks went by and the time until graduation was creeping closer every day. The first week was a lot of testing, every single thing we had learned was drawn out to be quizzed on by instructors at random intervals and you were expected to know immediately. There was also another drill competition and while we didn't win this one, we finished much higher in the rankings than our initial performances so Instructor Jackson allowed us to keep breathing, for a little while longer at least.

Word around camp was that there was some big event they called, "The Crucible," or some crap like that coming up the last week. It was the last big hurdle before graduation from the way the guys talked about it. One guy's older brother had done it and he said you were given two and a half MRE's that you had to make last over fifty-four hours of strenuous activities that included, but were not limited to, forty-eight miles of marching, simulated battle scenarios, a strenuous obstacle course and oh yeah, eight hours of sleep in that timeframe.

"Mitch, this officially blows." We were now about a day into the test and they had broken us up into small units and given an instructor to each group. Vandel, Vega, Woley and I were paired up with Instructor Speirs and he had been nothing but encouraging in his own rather unique way.

"Recruits! What the hell are you doing, stick together! You all going to quit now when you've got thirty hours left? I've never seen a bigger bunch of pansy's in my whole damn life. God dammit, I'm just going to retire now. You pathetic sacks of shit make me sick to my stomach." He went from screaming to looking at the ground in a disgusted look of disappointment in record time. The man could've had a second career as an actor if he wanted to. "If Crossbones isn't rolling over in his grave I'd be surprised. Your form is the worst I've ever seen."

Oh yeah, that was the other thing. Part of the crucible also consisted of learning the proud history of the Alliance Marines and part of that was the famous, "Baker's Dozen," who fought at Shanxi back in the First Conflict War. Apparently Jack was part of that crew. They were all given nicknames based on superheroes or villains from old Earth comics. Crossbones was one of those men and we were currently engaged in a large scale brawl since his particular skill was in close-quarters combat. Bullseye, Deadpool, Huntress and Ronin were just a few of the others that fought and died there holding out for reinforcements that never came. I was still anxious to see what the drill would be to commemorate Jack and Speirs, AKA Deadshot and Nemesis. The curiosity was just about killing me.

"Wolf duck!" Following Mitch's shouted instructions, I dropped to the ground as a fist flew over my head from behind. Vega quickly grabbed the man and delivered a vicious strike that dropped him while issuing a loud challenge. "Anybody else want some?" The four of us were together, back-to-back in a tight circle, each of us trying to guard the other with varying degrees of success. We all had taken a few hits but nothing too serious and surprisingly our team was still upright on both feet which was more than most teams could say.

I wiped a bit of blood that had dripped down from a cut on my forehead. Another recruit had managed to slip past us and got an elbow strike in just above my eye. I would've gone down too if it wasn't for Ben grabbing me and keeping me up while Woley took out the guy's legs, knocking him out of the competition which I thanked him for gratefully.

For some stupid reason the other squads were splitting up and fighting solo, much to their team instructor's chagrin. There were now about a dozen recruits left, not counting our team, and that number continued to drop rapidly. We were even getting a breather for a while as the remaining fighters had decided that the risk vastly outweighed the reward of trying to engage our tight-knit group of combatants.

Vega looked over his shoulder towards Woley who was facing the large free-for-all. "I think everyone else is going to eliminate each other. We might not even have to fight anyone for the rest of the brawl."

"I think you might be right."

I turned to face the rest of the crew, and by extension the main portion of the field. The last half-dozen had stopped struggling and were now…talking? Oh shit. "Guys, hate to break it to you but I think Murphy's about to screw us over. You just had to jinx us didn't you Jimmy?"

"What do you mean Lobo? Oh…yeah…that looks like fun."

We all prepared in our own way to meet the oncoming tide of humanity. Jimmy cracked his knuckles, Woley bounced around lightly, throwing a few quick punches and Big Ben gave a loud shout to bring it. I simply chuckled a little bit, once again the odds had turned and I was outnumbered, kind of reminded me of old times. This time though I had solid back up.

In just a few seconds our two sides met and I ducked an incoming blow and turned to face my opponent. Off to my side Mitch quickly eliminated an oncoming recruit by ducking and using the man's own force to throw him over his shoulder. The odds were then completely evened by Vega picking up a smaller opponent and crashing to the ground, throwing a quick couple light punches to signify a victory but not injure the man. The sides were now four-on-four with all of us facing off with one adversary.

I quickly ran forward and jumped at my foe, throwing a "Superman" punch which he dodged by rolling under and afterwards returned with a few punches of his own. Backpedaling quickly, I brought up my arms to guard my head and absorb the blows. We traded punches and kicks with nobody gaining an upper hand when the barrage was suddenly ended by the timely interruption of Ben Vandel tackling the guy to the ground, throwing a few elbows and quickly ending the fight. I was about to thank him for the save when I took a blow of my own to the back of the head, knocking me face-first into the dirt and also out of the fight.

"Ow, that **really** sucked." I stood up and shook my head, wobbling a bit as I tried to clear out the stars that filled my vision. Please don't have a concussion, alright brain? Taking a seat next to Vega who had also been eliminated, we watched the final four trade heated blows. After a few seconds of punching, Vandel and his opponent actually managed to eliminate each other by landing simultaneous blows that felled them both to the ground. That left only Mitch and his much larger opponent.

The entire crowd of eliminated recruits stood by the sides, cheering on the last two combatants. "Come on Woley, you got this buddy." I leaned forward as the two moved in a blur of fists and feet. Punches and kicks were thrown at a blistering pace, Mitch backing up slightly with each one as the taller combatant used his longer reach to reign fists down on the blonde recruit.

I looked over to Vega and whispered. "Man, this doesn't look good. Guy's just too big, even for Mitch."

"He's got this, you'll see. Short stuff's just waiting for the right moment." Almost as if he heard the words coming from Jimmy's mouth, Woley seized one of the opponent's attempted punches and drew him into range. Stepping under a wildly thrown blow, he gave a quick three punches to the body along with an elbow to the rib cage that knocked the wind out of the man before finishing the fight by literally tackling the bigger man to the ground. Wow, did not expect that.

The three of us ran onto the field and hoisted the shorter recruit onto our shoulders in a victory celebration. Shouting and yelling, we paraded for a little bit before one of the instructors yelled at us to knock it off and quit acting like morons which we promptly did.

**A/N: Little bit more action here as the boot camp draws to a close, just one or two more chapters and then it will be over and onto newer, better things. Thanks to everybody who's read, reviewed, followed and favorited, I always appreciate the feedback. And once again, shout-out goes to Ranger Station Charlie, my, "Bouncer off of ideas," guy…yeah, the title's a work in progress. Also, I just about crapped my pants when I saw that I had nine reviews since Friday which blows away any previous number I've had so big thanks to all you reviewers for almost making me have an embarrassing accident, especially guys like RSC and Unity9 who've given me a ton of feedback on my very first story, you guys are awesome.**

**Ranger Station Charlie: Yeah that whole exercise is a big ol' nope, I'll stick to dry land thank you very much.**

**Also, your wish is granted in terms of some sims, hopefully you enjoyed it. I struggled a bit as it was my first time writing, "combat," scenarios but I was fairly happy with how it turned out.**

**As for the rounds, I remember Pinnacle Station having something like what I used in-story and I think kinetic slugs is how they termed it, basically they would hurt like a bitch but weren't lethal.**

**Fallout Fan: Glad you're enjoying it so far! I can definitely say that on the paragon/renegade alignment chart Wolf is definitely not a pure paragon. If the scale was a single line I'd probably put him just over the middle in terms of leaning towards renegade. So…renegon, I guess?**

**Random Guest: Wow, I really appreciate you taking the time out of your day to write that encouragement. It definitely brought a smile to my face and it means a lot to hear positivity instead of the opposite, which is usually true on the internet unfortunately.**

**UI: Thanks for the review and that's definitely something I'm trying to do is shake things up in the ME-verse. I've been chatting with my Beta, RSC, a little bit and we've had a couple ideas but there's still a long ways to go before ME1 territory is reached so I've got some time. When Wolf reaches the Normandy there's definitely going to be some changes and they'll only grow as the story continues so I hope you'll still be reading as of then.**

**Unity9: I'm assuming you meant devil and not angel, if so then you are definitely correct, he's probably floating somewhere in the middle with probably a slight lean towards the renegade side of things. Wolf's a decently nice guy in regular situations but when he gets into critical situations he falls back on pragmatism and that can lead to some rather cold decisions if he deems it to be for, "the greater good," or however you'd like to phrase it. However, I don't think Wolf would ever hurt an innocent knowingly so that keeps him floating somewhere between the two extremes instead of being closer to a full renegade.**

**140.85: I can't speak from experience but I can definitely understand how a long-distance relationship would be extremely stressful for both sides. Writing romance definitely isn't one of my stronger points but I can say that Wolf and Emma's involvement will be definitely be expanded on a lot more as the story goes on and they get more serious. P.S. I like the wolf, lol, I think I've got my next book cover ;)**

**The Darth Revan: Glad to see that you're still following the story and enjoying it so far. I've definitely tried my best to make Wolf a real person with his own fears, worries and motivations so it's nice to get some feedback that I haven't completely botched that so far.**

**Guest: At ease my bloodthirsty friend, the combat sims and hand-to-handwill have to tide you over until the real kicking of asses begins. Rest assured though, it will be here in upcoming chapters in the somewhat near future and once it does arrive then it'll be pretty consistent throughout the rest of the story.**

**Thanks for the advice, I'm definitely still working on upping the quality of the relationship material in the story and some of it felt a bit forced as I was re-reading but hey, the only way to get better is practice right?**

**As far as the overheating of guns goes, I realize now that I probably should have gone more in depth with the technicalities of it but I just kind of took it for granted that when the instructors are drilling them that it's included in those lessons. Also, since Wolf was raised by a Marine and taught to shoot a pistol he would've given him the lowdown as well so he'd have some experience coming in.**

**Switching to thermal clips always did seem like a step backwards in my eyes but if I remember right the reason they gave in-story was that after running calculations the volume of fire was actually greater with clips due to being able to just shoot and then reload instead of managing heat levels. Of course if you're in an extended firefight it brings up some issues but the clips are rather small in size so I'd imagine soldiers could carry a fair amount on them. If worst came to worst they could scrounge since they're entirely universal, plus the bio-kids and techies can use their unique talents but the soldiers would still be screwed in that case.**

**Some good things to ponder there to avoid Mary Sue-ness since I definitely want to portray Wolf as having realistic combat ability for the training and experience he has and not just randomly being an expert with everything.**

**And as for the last bit…the joke's on you buddy because I never sleep!**

**RSC(Review numero dos): Like I said above, I definitely made a mistake not going more in depth with managing heat levels and I just realized it too late :(**

**Yeah, having your gun creating massive sources of heat if you fire too often probably isn't the best thing in terms of adding to long-term reliability. The corporate angle for clip creation is one I hadn't really considered but definitely has some merit I think. Although…the same could be said if the guns themselves broke down due to overheating because that would create more of a demand to have stockpiled firearms for when your weapon inevitably craps out on you andddd I just talked myself into a circle, dammit brain…**


	13. Now I Have a Machine Gun

"So who's taking this guy out?" I turned to the rest of my squad who all were outfitted with Lancer assault rifles, M3 Predator sidearms and sets of Onyx armor with the Alliance logo emblazoned on the left breastplate. Peering through the visor of my helmet, I peeked over our wooded cover to where a lone Turian guard was standing about fifty yards away with his back to us.

"Well, since Mitch and I are not allowed to walk that leaves you and Big Ben which narrows things down a little bit now doesn't it Lobo?" Vega snarked from his seated position. "And since Benny here has all the sneakiness of an elephant that leaves you to get it done." I turned towards the large Alabama native who simply gave a shrug of agreement. At least the guy knows his strengths and weaknesses, I can respect that. All four of us were out in a forested area attempting to complete our final exercise, or die trying. Well not really, we were on a simulated battlefield against an army of digital turians so the worst that would happen is we'd get an alert from the VI in our armor saying we were dead. Scratch that, the worst that would happen is the tongue lashing we'd receive afterwards for screwing things up.

This last drill was apparently a final tribute to the exploits of the team of N7's my dad was in, well unofficially adopted dad or guardian I guess depending on how you wanted to phrase it. By this point all that were left of the, "Baker's Dozen," on that brutal day at Shanxi were Jack and Speirs, or Deadshot and Nemesis as they were known in the group along with two others who were heavily wounded, which is why Jimmy and Mitch were not walking for the time being. The exercise was trying to simulate realism and they were really trying to hammer home the point that war sucks and you're going to be in some shitty situations. Anyway, back to the story. The big brass knew that surrender was coming soon so they told the remaining Spec Ops guys to get out of there by whatever means necessary. And that's what they did. Ramsey and Speirs dragged those two men all the way to the exfiltration point through enemy lines and got the hell out of there before the Turians even knew what happened. Of course, the two soldiers died from their wounds shortly afterwards. Talk about a downer ending.

We were told simply to get to a certain location where we'd be picked up, and that was it, no other instructions whatsoever. For the first time, we weren't having every single move of ours examined and critiqued. I messed around with the military-grade omni tool they had given me for the exercise and extended a bright orange blade from it. "Fine, I'll take him." You know, it's really nice having someone handy with tech around for this kind of thing. As soon as the tools were given to us Mitch went to work improving them. Now, I don't know the first thing about running combat programs but I knew I wanted a knife so Woley hooked me up with an app to extend a ten-inch long blade of near-diamond toughness from the gadget with the simple push of a button on my part which suits me perfectly. The less I have to mess around with that thing the better.

Crouching, I quietly crept the distance from me to the program since I was not quite sure of how realistically the thing reacted to ambient sounds. Twenty yards, ten, five. I looked around to make sure that no other digital enemies were in sight and then extremely carefully tiptoed the last few feet until I could almost touch it. Standing up straight, I readied myself before throwing my arm forward towards its neck. The Turian turned in alarm to face me but before he could react the blade plunged into his neck just below the base of his skull causing the alien to fade from view. Unfortunately, it also caused me to fall flat on my face…kind of forgot that the program lacked this little thing called mass which resulted in me stumbling forward and face-planting. Smooth.

A wave of stifled laughter floated towards me as I picked myself up off the ground and dusted some dirt from my helmet. "Nice one Sergeant Stealth," Jimmy gave a mock salute from his sitting position, "what are our next orders sir?"

"Oh screw you guys, the thing looks really realistic, even from up close. I kinda forgot that there's literally nothing there." As I walked back to the group I familiarized myself with the helmet's installed tactical readouts. In the lower right-hand corner a bar underneath the picture of a rifle showed the heat levels on my weapons and directly across from that the shield levels of all four of us were displayed along with an additional bar that represented our health. It was pretty useful although when you have something continually present in the corners of your vision it kind of screws with you. I think I'm going to blame my little accident on that if any of the instructors ask just what the hell happened.

"Anyway, now that Wolf's done providing comic relief let's get a move on. We've got to get to that location fast." Ben put James' arm over his shoulder and hoisted the man onto his shoulder and the two picked their way through the forest. Thankfully, Vandel was there to hold him instead of me, it helps to have a giant in your squad sometimes. The guy made it look like Vega was a little child with how easily he carried him.

Heaving a large sigh, I walked over to Mitch who was hoisting his thumb in the air. The large grin on his face was clearly visible even through the visor. "Can a soldier get a ride?"

I gave a loud grunt as I threw him over my right shoulder, not very gently either to be honest. At least the armor helped out with distributing his weight. "I guess so, how far you going Marine?"

"Lemme see, we've got about a klick and a half before we're out of the forest. Then we're supposed to set up on some ridge and wait for…something. They were kind of vague on the details of what we're supposed to do at the end there. That sound good to you stranger?"

I made a big show of thinking through his proposal. "Yeah, I'm going that way so I guess I could help you out kid. After that you're on your own though."

"Very generous of you."

"I'm all about helping folks out, I'm a people person you know?" Picking up the pace, I jogged quickly through the woods in an effort to catch up with our other squad mates. "Holy crap Woley, just how much do you weigh anyway? You could stand to lose a few pounds I think."

"Just shut up and carry me Wolf."

"Sir yes sir."

**LINE BREAK**

Shit, my back itches and I cannot do a damn thing about it, armor sucks. We had been walking through this freaking forest for what seemed like forever and we are now about a fifth of a mile away from the extraction point, if Mitch was accurate with his estimations of course. He had pretty much become the de facto leader of our little group and as such had taken over the duties a CO would have, one of those was navigating through the dense woodland we had found ourselves in.

We had run into minimal defenses so far, never more than two or three enemies at a time. Our movements had still not been compromised yet, although there was a close call once when one of the Turians had managed to fire off a few wild rounds to counter our ambush before Ben silenced him with a couple well placed rifle shots to the chest.

The edge of the forest was finally in sight and I could just make out some barricades that looked like they'd been hastily erected. "Mitch, that where we're going?" I set him down and pointed out towards the elevated position.

"I'll take a look. Team, hold up!" The three of us stopped and he pulled up a map on his omni-tool. A bright flashing indicator showed our destination just ahead. "Yeah, that's the place right there. Now…how are we going to get there is the real question." Blocking our path out of the forest was a dozen or so armed Turians, all patrolling the area at seemingly random intervals. Of course they're not going to make it that easy. It would be nearly impossible to take out all of them without raising the alarm and informing them exactly where we were located. Fuck me.

The team huddled up to discuss exactly what we were going to do about the situation. "I say we just go in guns blazing, they're going to find us anyway so we just hit 'em hard and hope for the best."

"I don't know Vega," Ben declared hesitantly, "I think we should hold stealth as long as possible. Wolf and I sneak in and knife as many as we can. Nate," the large Alabama native pointed towards me, "how are your little jedi tricks coming along?"

In response I surrounded myself in a blueish-purple aura and generated a biotic field in my outstretched right hand. "Pretty damn well. I feel like flexing the brain a little bit and seeing what I'm really capable of if that's cool with you guys."

"Sounds good, just don't overdo it." Mitch closed up our little huddle. "Alright, I think we go with a compromise between the two. Wolf, you're going in solo with me set up behind that log bundle for overwatch slash long-range support. Ben, carry Vega as close to the withdrawal point as possible. Stay out of sight but keep an eye on us two, if and when we get discovered I need you both to set up behind cover because we're going to leapfrog our way to the end point. That means Wolf will carry me past you both while you cover us. We will continue on until we find a suitable position to cover you both from and then return the favor while you both go. Everyone understand?"

All of us nodded and I gave Mitch a big smile. "We got it buddy, you need to stop worrying so much. This is what we're training for right guys?"

Vega looked up at the rest of us. "Yeah, I think it's time to kick some shiny holographic Turian ass."

"I can agree with that." Mitch opened up his omni-tool and pointed to our helmets. "External speakers off, all private channel from here in boys. Sync up on three. One, two, three."

"Vandel, synced."

"Vega, ok here."

"Wolf, present."

"Woley…and that's all of us, let's do this shit gentlemen."

I carried my blonde teammate to his relatively hidden position where he sat down and peered through the iron sights on the group of enemies in front of us before giving a thumbs-up. Taking a deep breath, I crouched and walked quietly forwards, taking cover behind a large tree. Two Turians with assault rifles were chatting with their backs to me. What fake soldiers have to talk about I have no damn clue. I stepped out from behind my hiding spot, picking each and every step carefully as we found out earlier the hard way that the holograms do actually pick up sound if you're too loud. Drawing closer to the soldiers until I could almost touch them I opened up my 'tool and extended the blade Mitch had installed. A loud metallic sound rang throughout the quiet forest. Well, shit.

Abandoning all pretenses of stealth I ran the last couple steps and jumped, embedding the knife into the soldier on the right before turning to the other and throwing a lift orb that nailed him directly in the chest. "Mitch go loud we're compromised!" Before I could even bring my sidearm to bear, a burst of fire nailed the floating Turian, causing him to disintegrate mid-flight. I turned towards Woley who waved me over.

"We need to get moving right now so pick me up! The other two are holed up a couple hundred feet from our extraction point and if they aren't under fire yet, they're going to be soon." As if to reinforce what he was saying, loud bursts of gunfire started ringing throughout the previously serene woodlands causing Mitch to jump on the private comms as I carried him through the woods. "We're moving towards you boys, just hold your position as long as you can. We're going straight to the exfil and then we'll give you guys cover fire so you can join up with us, get the band back together and get this fucking exercise over with."

Vega's voice came back over the channel. "Sounds good, just get your asses moving we're getting swarmed here."

With Mitch thrown over my shoulder I ran as fast as possible out of the forest and into a large clearing. Off to our right Jimmy and Ben were firing at oncoming waves of scaly troopers, fully intent on eradicating the two combatants. "Come on Wolf can't you go any faster? Our shields are starting to get hit here just in case you didn't notice."

"I'm going as fast as I can so unless you want to be dropped on your head I would advise you to shut the hell up." He did have a point though, in the few seconds we were out of the clearing our shields had already dropped below sixty percent and were continuing to drop. If this kept up we weren't going to make it to cover. I practically screamed over our headsets. "Keep them off me for two seconds, I'm going to try something."

The renewed sound of gunfire spurring me on, I gave a grunt of effort as I tried erecting a barrier as we ran. "Come on you bitch." The instructors had said most biotic soldiers went into battle relying only on their barriers for protection so surely I could do that now. And if I could handle that then maybe I could extend it a little bit extra and protect Mitch inside it too.

Sensing what I was trying to do Mitch gave a few words of encouragement. "You got this Wolf, just try it again." Once more I tried but with no results and now the feminine voice of the VI in our hardsuits was blaring a warning.

"_Alert. Shields below twenty-five percent. It is highly recommended to find cover if at all possible. Breaching of shields will result in highly unfavorable circumstances."_

Great, even the voice in my helmet is sarcastic. "_Ten percent."_ One more try. I gave a loud yell as I mentally projected a wall of energy surrounding the two of us, a wave of relief flooding over me as a purple glow enveloped the two of us. "_Barrier detected, allocating resources. Shields online at eighty percent."_

With a final burst of effort I tumbled over one of the barricades and panted heavily as I leaned against the wall. Holy crap that took it out of me. Mitch wasting no time however, radioed to our teammates as he opened fire with his Lancer. "We've reached it. Move here now while we cover you."

As the two men moved towards us I took up a position to the right of Woley and began to blast away with my rifle. One Turian after another fell but the waves seemed almost endless. As one program faded into oblivion, two more took its place and kept up the assault. On the positive news front though, Ben and Vega were making great progress, their shields were still strong and they were less than a hundred feet away now.

"Make room boys, I'm joining the group." As I peeked back over the wall I was greeted by the sight of two armor-clad recruits toppling over our blockade. "How's it hanging gents?" Ben quipped as he set down Vega in a position where he could return volleys before setting up himself.

I gave a little shrug. "You know, just a typical day in the life of a Marine recruit. Livin' the dream baby."

"_Objectives updated. _The VI cut in as soon as we were all gathered together. _Transport arriving in seven minutes. Survive until then. Good luck."_

I placed my assault rifle on my back before pulling out my sidearm. Quickly standing up, I threw a lift that caught a couple combatants that were clustered together and then waited a few moments to recharge before throwing a warp into the center that resulted in a biotic explosion that threw derezzing turian everywhere. God that never gets old. Ducking back behind cover I gave a big sunny grin to the squad. "That was fun. I wanna do that again."

Mitch sighed loudly. "Just shoot the bastards alright…and don't kill yourself with the biotics. Wouldn't want your amp to fry from overexertion. Those things cost a lot of money."

I fired my pistol at a couple soldiers advancing on our right flank from behind the tree line, nailing both in the chest with a couple well-placed rounds. "Glad to know you care Mitch."

Switching back to my rifle, I got back into place next to Ben, who in addition to Vega, was mowing down anyone foolish enough to try and cross the empty plain in front of us. Everything was going great until about three minutes left when my shields dropped to near non-existence in a single moment. "Shit. Fucking sniper in the trees over there. Didn't see where though."

The loud report of a sniper rifle crackled through the air again causing all four of us to steady ourselves against the barricade. Woley turned towards me. "We've got to take this bastard out right now, he's going to pin us all single-handedly unless we do something about it. One of us is going to have to make a dash to draw him out."

"Why does it seem like when you say, 'one of us,' you really mean Wolf go do this?"

"One, Ben is the only other one here allowed to move on his feet and he's a much bigger target than you are. Two, you're a biotic. Use your little purpley wall to save yourself."

"One, It's called a barrier and two, fuck you."

Woley rubbed his hands together. "Perfect, we're in agreement then, who's taking the shot?"

Vega gave a nod. "It's all me. I've got your back Lobo, the little sniper isn't gonna hurt you if I can help it buddy."

"Alrighty, let's do it then. Wolf go on three. Vega watch for the scope glint and drop the bitch when you see it. You've got one shot."

I turned back and faced the group who were all shooting, holding the wave of fighters at bay. "Do I go on three? Or is it one, two, three, then go?"

"I don't fucking care just go already."

"This is important, Vega I'm doing three and then go."

Mitch began the countdown. "One, two-"

"Hell no Mitch, I'm running, I'm counting."

He gave an almost strangled scream of anguish. "Just do it already then, holy shit Wolf!"

"Ok good. One. Two. Three. Go." I burst out from cover and focused all my concentration on erecting a barrier for protection. Thankfully I actually got it on the first try this time. Pops of simulated gunfire were all around me and out of the corner of my eye I could just see the sniper lining me up. I mentally asked whatever higher being was there how the heck, I found myself in these situations. "Crap. Dick. Shit. Balls. Motherf-." A loud burst of gunfire broke my crude thoughts and I winced in anticipation of my VI warning me that I was now dead or something cheery like that. Nope, shields are still holding at eighty percent. Hallelujah.

Finishing the last few yards of my sprint I dove behind cover before turning around only to see Jimmy giving me a cocky salute. In return I made a not-so-nice gesture to my three squad members. "_Attention one minute remaining until pickup. Those not alive or not at the exfiltration point will be left behind." _What an asshole. I began unloading round after round with my rifle, exhausted from the strain of using my biotics quite a bit in the last few minutes. Suddenly, a thought entered my mind.

"Uh, hey guys…not to be a downer or anything, awesome shooting by the way Vega, but how am I going to get back there without being shredded since you three will already be on the way back to base?"

The only answer was silence. Dammit. "Yeah, I guess I forgot about that part. We'll play it by ear or something. Maybe they'll let us shoot from the transport." A loud engine suddenly started blaring across the battlefield. "Well, that sounds like our ride out of here. Good luck Wolf, we'll figure something out." Mitch ended the conversation in a mock cheerful tone.

"_Attention. Transport is now entering the pickup zone. Please make your way to the vehicle to leave the combat simulation." _Thanks for the help, tell me something I don't know. I swear, if I ever meet the programmer who made that smug female voice and put it into our suits I am going to warp him so hard his kids will be born with biotics.

As the noise grew louder I could finally see our transport over the tree line. Peering over my cover I took in one of the most beautiful sights I have ever seen. An A-61 Mantis gunship roared overhead before turning towards the approaching horde and letting loose with the twin M350 machine guns located on the belly of the aircraft. The attacking army dissipated in a sea of orange, while I laughed almost manically. Finally seeing my opportunity to get the hell out, I took off, tearing back towards the gunship. No way in hell was I getting left behind after all this effort.

Closer and closer I drew to my airborne savior before realizing I could fulfill a lifelong dream of mine in just a few seconds. Every action movie I had ever watched had a scene like this. I waved my arms wildly. "Take off! Take off!" The pilot gave a thumbs up and the armed transport lifted off the ground slowly. Taking the last few strides, I leapt into the vehicle with reckless abandon as it lifted off the ground. I floated through the air for what seemed like an eternity. Shit, I don't know if I'm gonna make it. At the last second a hand reached out of the ship, firmly grasped my own and pulled me onto the solid floor of the gunship. I panted heavily. "Sorry guys, I've always wanted to do that."

Vega just looked at me after landing on his back from the effort of pulling my considerable mass in with the rest of the team. "You're a fucking idiot you know that.'

"Well that's a given." Taking a seat in the corner of the ship I opened up the visor of my headgear and surveyed my team. Every single one of them was beaming just as much as I'm sure I was. It was like we had just opened up a new toy on Christmas morning. I need a gunship of my own.

Walking up towards the cockpit, I poked my head into where the pilot was seated. "Thanks for the save man, I was freaking out a bit back there. Even if the whole thing wasn't real." I looked out the window and surveyed the forest we had just passed through. "Boy they really go all out on this last exercise don't they?"

"You know that was probably the dumbest shit I've ever seen in all my years with the Alliance? And that's really saying something considering I have to deal with recruits all day." Without diverting his attention from his task the pilot responded. "And as for your question, I think the instructors like to give a little treat before graduation to the recruits who've made it this far. Or maybe they just want to simulate something that's as close as it can be to war without it being the real thing. Whatever their reasons I really don't care, I get to fly this puppy around and test the weaponry all day long. It sure beats the hell out of a desk job doesn't it?"

I grinned back at the man. "Yeah it sure does."

Excusing myself, I went back and sat with the crew. Exhaling loudly as if that would get rid of all the exhaustion that plagued my body. One final message blared through my headset before I drifted off to sleep. "_Congratulations recruit. You didn't die on Shanxi." _See what I mean? Total asshole.

**A/N: Final test is out of the way! Nate's graduating next chapter and after that who knows what will happen? Well, I guess I do so nevemind. Thanks for reading and if you enjoyed drop a review, follow and favorite, have a nice weekend everybody!**

**Ranger Station Charlie is still my Beta and still awesome.**

**RSC: Thanks, I tried to portray it where they would have some understanding of basic combat maneuvering but they're still only recruits so like you said there'd definitely be some mistakes being made. Luckily, it was only a simulation and they were going up against other novice fighters otherwise the situation would have been vastly different. Glad you liked it!**


	14. The Graduate

"Recruit Wolfert, step forward." The voice of Instructor Madeline Jackson rang out through the ceremony grounds. For the last couple hours we had all been going through the graduation service and frankly I was bored out of my mind. After all the action we had gone through these last three months standing at attention while other recruits paraded around was a bit dull, you have to admit. Still, I was really proud, both of myself and my roommates. All four of us had made it through, true there were a couple of bumps along the road but overall I think we did pretty well.

As I stepped up to the platform and shook the hands of our three instructors I realized that I was finally a Marine. All that hard work had paid off and now I was advancing to the next stage of my career. As I got to the end of the line, Commander Jackson handed me a datapad. "Here are your next instructions Marine. Congratulations son."

Big smile on my face, I took the offered device. "Thank you ma'am, it's been an honor learning from all three of you."

"You did well kid, now get off my damn podium. I've got dozens of other Marines that still have to come up here."

"Yes ma'am." I gave a little chuckle as I saluted and then walked off the stage, rejoining my team. As I walked I opened up the gadget and began to read. "_Congratulations Private Second Class Nathaniel Drake Wolfert, due to your high marks in training you have been chosen for "Vanguard" training, one of the six specialized combat programs available to graduating recruits. Starting tomorrow you will have a ten day leave and then report to the Ascension Project based at Jon Grissom Academy which orbits the colony of Elysium where you will continue your training for the next six months. A shuttle will be at the nearest Alliance recruitment center on the eleventh day at 0900 hours."_

Wow, another six months of training. Well at least I'll have plenty of time to master my biotics, that little exercise during the last drills wore me out really quickly. As I walked back to the rest of the new Marines I found myself engulfed in a bear hug with the life being strangled out of me. "It's great to see you too Ben but I can't breathe." After setting me down we were then joined by Vega and Woley and all four of us engaged in an extremely manly handshake slash hug thing that lasted for a little while before breaking.

"Hey I want you guys to meet somebody." By this point the family and close friends of us graduates were allowed to mingle as the ceremony had finally ended. The short break before returning to the grind had now officially begun. "This, is my uncle Emilio. He's the guy who convinced me to join the Marines, plus he practically raised me once Mom passed away. Uncle, these are my roommates, Mitch, the short one, Ben, the big one, and Wolf, the medium one with the cut-up chin."

I just gave a little shrug as I stepped forward to shake the man's hand. Jimmy definitely looked a lot like his uncle, they both were tall, strong-looking men with definite Hispanic features showing through. The only difference being his uncle had a fully-shaved head and a large goatee he sported. "I can't argue with that description, it's really nice to meet you sir. Jimmy here's talked about you quite a bit, all good of course."

"I highly doubt that." The man gave a large, friendly grin. "Oh, did you tell these three about tonight Jimmy?"

Vega slapped his forehead. "Knew I was forgetting something, we're having a big party tonight to celebrate the graduation at his place in Escondido, there's going to be food, drinks, girls, all the good stuff so you guys come on out and bring your family if they want to come out too." Suddenly, a big grin spread across his face, which puzzled me. "Speaking of family…"

A sense of déjà vu swept through me as once again I was engulfed in an embrace by someone from behind. "Nate! You did it kid, I'm so proud of you." Once I was back on my feet I turned around to see my guardian Jack Ramsey standing there. "I knew you could do it buddy. Heard you were going into the Vanguard program too over there at Grissom Academy so you must not have screwed things up too badly."

"Yeah, I did alright. Didn't accidentally shoot anybody, probably thanks to those teachings back in Detroit. Oh, and these are my roommates here, they helped me out too." I went through all the introductions again and told Jack about the party tonight which he instantly agreed to go to.

"Oh, and there's one more thing I forgot about it. There's someone else here to see you too Nate."

At that moment a pair of hands covered my eyes and someone whispered into my ear. "Guess who?"

Knowing full well who it was, I made a big pretense of thinking it through. "Hmmm, is it one of my instructors?"

"Guess again."

"Well there was this one girl I liked back in Detroit but there's no way she could have made it here on such short notice. I think her name was Erin? Emily? Something like that."

A playful shove answered me and now that I could see again I twisted around and picked up Emma by her slender hips before spinning her around and then ending it with a tender hug. "What are you doing here Em? Not that I'm not happy or anything because I'm just about ready to burst." I tacked on quickly. "I just thought you would've had work or college, something like that."

"Well, Jack told me that you were graduating today and we both figured that it would be a nice surprise for you if both of us could be here so I worked it out with my bosses and got the next couple days off to spend with you guys. Sooo we took a shuttle out and…here I am." She flashed a conspiratorial grin as she stepped in closer to me and whispered. "And don't worry, Mr. Ramsey here told me all your deepest, darkest secrets on the ride over, we had plenty of time to talk about you."

I swallowed the lump in my throat. "Great, five minutes and you two are already ganging up on me." I pointed to the crowd around me. "Emma, these are my good friends, Mitch, who you already talked to a little bit, Ben, Jimmy and Jimmy's uncle Emilio Vega. Guys, this, is my girlfriend Emma from back in Detroit."

We spent the next half-hour telling random stories from camp, being caught up on what had been going on in the world the last few months while all of us were isolated from society and just catching up in general. Vega was actually right in the middle of telling about the Shanxi sim. "So, this sniper's got us pinned down at the extraction point, we're all blasting away with our rifles while Lobo here's bitching the whole time about things as per usual." I covered my face in embarrassment. There's some things that you just don't want shared with your girlfriend. "Then the three of us elect him to go on a run to draw the guy out and Emma I'm sorry to tell you but you need to straighten out your boy here's mouth." He shook his head in a mock disapproving fashion. "He was cussing up a storm the whole time he was running. Language I do not want to repeat around a pretty woman like yourself so I just thought I'd give you a fair warning about what you're getting into with this idiot before things go too far."

Emma squeezed my hand as we stood in the circle and looked up at me with a coy smile. "Well, I'll just have to see what I can do about that then. He is an idiot, but he's my idiot right now, and I'll make a decent man out of him yet if it kills me. See look." She pointed to our intertwined hands. "He tries to act like a big tough guy all the time but deep down he's harmless."

"Well, you know, I mean…" I swear, my face must have turned bright red at that and I tried stammering out something before I was interrupted by a loud voice.

"Hey! Deadshot, what you don't have any time for your old squadmate?" That voice belonged of course to our instructor, Staff Lieutenant William Speirs, AKA Nemesis. "Thought you could just sneak around here, see your old stomping grounds and just ignore me old man? That hurts."

At that, my unofficial father turned around chuckling loudly. "What the hell are you doing here Nemesis? Still terrorizing all these young recruits with old war stories huh?"

The two walked towards each other and clasped in a friendly greeting. "It's good to see ya, you old sniper. What the hell have you been up to besides teaching kids like Wolfy here how to shoot and fight?" I really hope that nickname doesn't stick.

"I run a weapons and armor store back in Detroit, left the Alliance but I guess I just couldn't stay away from the culture. Some things never change huh?"

Speirs chuckled loudly. "No, they really don't."

**LINE BREAK**

Jack, Emma and I had been sitting for a while when our host joined us, not so subtly giving me a slight elbow to the ribs as he smiled. I had been giving the both of them a quick summary of my time at camp and even showed off a little with my biotics by picking up some random objects laying around the table. The last couple weeks I had really been working on subtly controlling things with my biotics, the attacks and barriers had been coming along nicely but I still wasn't able to just hold items in the air for more than a few seconds without being exhausted. "Hey, I'm glad you guys could make it. Hope you're all having a good time tonight at the grand Vega estate."

He swept his arm grandly across the humble backyard we were sitting in, while it wasn't the biggest I'd ever seen Emilio took good care of the place and it just felt welcoming and really home-like if you know what I mean. And compared to the streets of Detroit someone having a backyard with real grass in it was a welcome sight. Jimmy's uncle was an amazing cook and had been grilling for everybody all night without pausing for breath. I even offered to help with whatever he needed but he shooed me away saying to relax and that he loved hosting for guests. People were dancing, eating, drinking and laughing, everybody was having a great time and I even think I saw Mitch being led away somewhere by one of Vega's cute female friends, grinning madly the whole time of course. Lucky bastard. Granted, I never would have said that out loud with Emma being present.

"Yeah, this is awesome, thanks Jimmy. It's really nice to just kick back and relax after going so hard the last three months. Tell your uncle I said thanks too, seems like a really nice guy."

"Yeah for sure, he's like a dad to me." We relaxed in peaceful silence for a few moments, well as much as you can have with party music blaring, people having loud conversations and the like. "Oh, and we're going to have some dancing in a little bit in case you lovebirds want to join in."

Emma cut in quickly, beaming with joy, while my own face dropped in nervous fright. Sure Wolf, you can survive being gassed, put into firefight sims and even water but now compare that to dancing with a pretty girl and you shake like a scared kid. "That sounds great James. I'm sure Nate here would love to take me for a dance wouldn't you Wolfy?" Dammit. That really better not stick.

"That sounds amazing." I smiled through gritted teeth. "Can't wait."

Eventually after a few more minutes of chatting Emma gave a sort of nod to Jimmy who was sitting by the music player with his omni-tool out. He in turn gave a big thumbs-up and a grin before the tune suddenly changed from the upbeat music that had been playing to a slow ballad-type song. My girlfriend jumped up from the table we were sitting at and practically dragged me out to the open center of the yard that was the designated dancing area to the sound of wolf whistles, cat calls and Jimmy, Ben, and my own dad clapping and busting up laughing. All three of them were in on the bit, damn traitors. Mitch was still nowhere to be seen which didn't surprise me much, from the stories he told at camp he seemed like a little bit of a ladies' man.

Sighing under my breath I slipped a covert middle finger toward my three companions. "You know, I've never really danced before. At least not like this."

"Well, I'll just have to teach you then. Ok, first I put my left hand on your shoulder, like so," she did the indicated motion, "and you put your right hand on my hip right here. Then we just join our free hands together and sway with the music. And don't step on my toes."

"I think I'd rather run the Shanxi simulation again."

She gave me a disappointed look. "Oh come on now, my company isn't that bad is it?"

"Hmmm, you know it is growing on me a little bit. I could get used to this I think."

"Good, I'm glad to hear it…so…"

"So…?" A puzzled look crossed my face.

"So, what about us? You know I set this whole slow dance thing up with Jimmy and your dad once I heard there would be music just so we'd get a chance to talk uninterrupted for a few minutes."

"Wow, you are devious. I've got to watch myself around you from now on."

"Guilty as charged, but back to us. What are you going to do after this? I know you're going back to training for six months after leave and after that who knows where you'll be. So, what's going on upstairs?"

"Well," I thought my words out carefully as we moved back and forth. I'd really enjoyed getting to know Em these last three and a half months and wanted to continue our relationship if at all possible but like she said, I didn't know my own future so how could I ask her to commit to that? "I think you're a wonderful girl Emma. You're beautiful, kind, funny and adventurous. Plus, you put up with all the crap I put you through and came out like a champ without even complaining. You're not really like any of the girls I've ever met before and any guy would be lucky to call you their girlfriend. I know we've only known each other for a few months but I've just felt really comfortable with you and I feel like I can share anything, so I guess what I'm trying to say is that," I swallowed loudly, "I want to make it work if you're willing to do the whole long-distance thing."

She gave a little smile as I continued to ramble. "Of course if you don't I'll completely understand. I mean after all you're from a nice, well-to-do family and I'm an orphaned ex-gangbanger Marine who doesn't have much to offer and I'm going to be gone all the time and I won't be able to be there in person for you and who knows how much free time they'll give me to talk to you-"

"Nate you're rambling." She put a finger up to my lips to shush me and I blushed madly. "I'd like to try too. I don't know how things will work out but I want to give it a shot. We'll just have to make the most of the time we do have together."

I picked her up in a big hug and then gave her a quick, chaste peck on the lips before we resumed dancing. "I'm going to do everything I can to make this work. I promise."

"Good, whatever happens just remember, you can always share what you're feeling with me. No matter what."

"Well, I'm glad we had this little talk Em. Where do we go from here?"

"Honestly?" She looked up at me with her beautiful sapphire eyes. "I don't know, this is my first time really going steady with someone so I guess we just find out together, how does that sound to you?"

"I can handle that I think."

We resumed our waltz in silence, Emma putting her head on my shoulder as we rocked back and forth. I looked around the party, Mitch had got back, his hair all messed up and his face looking a bit red. Ben was actually sitting talking with Jack and Emilio who both were relaxing by the grill. And Jimmy, he was having a conversation with someone in a large hoodie. Well, that didn't look good. The two were getting pretty animated with Jimmy pointing in the man's face, from this distance I couldn't really hear what they were saying but I'm sure it wasn't too flattering from the looks of things.

"Hey Em, can you hold on a sec? I need to go talk to Vega over there about something."

"Sure, everything ok?"

I tried to give her a reassuring grin. "Yeah everything's fine, I just forgot to ask him where he's going for training." I gave her a little kiss on the cheek as I pulled away. "Be right back."

Walking over to him, I noticed that the large guy in the hoodie had left the party. Jimmy just stood there, clearly fuming as his hands clenched and unclenched repeatedly. "Jimmy, hey, everything ok buddy?"

"What do you want?" He whirled, a look of anger on his face before relaxing slightly at the sight of me approaching gingerly. "Sorry Lobo, just some shit from my past I have to deal with now."

"Anything I could do for you man, you're talking about dealing with shitty pasts then hey I'm your guy." Smirking, I tried to ease the tension a little bit.

"Just go away, I don't want you to get caught up in this fucking mess too."

"Hey, I'm here to help man. I'm your teammate. I've got your back just like you had mine back in the sims. Just 'cause we're not in Boot doesn't mean things change." I walked up closer and put a hand on his shoulder. "Come on Jimmy, you can trust me."

He heaved a resigned sigh. "Look, I didn't grow up in the best neighborhood. I did some bad shit, Emilio tried to keep me out of most of it but he could only do so much, and now this bastard's got me in a stranglehold." He muttered a long string of angry curses. "If I don't pick up Red Sand for this guy then he said he's going straight to the Alliance and is gonna rat me out."

"Well, I'll help you out with this man, it'll be just like old times for me. We'll get it done, rejoin the party, then get the hell out of here and back to the Alliance, clean as a whistle how does that sound?" I was about to walk out before a thought crossed my mind. "Just who is this guy anyway?"

The tall Marine gave a derisive laugh. "He's my dad."

**LINE BREAK**

"Jimmy, I thought you ran off to join the Alliance and be a big Marine hero, what happened buddy? I assumed you were too good for the likes of me now. And who's the new guy, find a little buddy to help out with your little sand problems?" The shady dealer we were meeting up with pointed a dirty finger at me, in response to which I simply crossed my arms, trying to give an aura that clearly meant to back the hell off.

"He's with me, don't fucking worry about it alright Kevin?" Jimmy got up in the guy's face. "Especially after that shit you tried to pull last time I figured a little extra muscle might be necessary." The dealer tried to interrupt but was cut off. "Don't even try to make excuses, I got jumped the minute I left. Coincidence? Yeah, I didn't think so asshole. Just give me the package and we'll be on our way."

At that Jimmy walked up and snatched the bag from the man's outstretched hand before loud sirens started to sound just outside the alleyway. "Wolf, cops man, we've got to go now or neither of us will be going back to the Marines anytime soon."

"Yeah, I have an idea to slow 'em down though. Keep running I'll be there in one sec."

"No, I'm not letting you get in trouble for something that's my problem. We're going. Now."

As the sound of running footsteps grew closer I turned back to Jimmy. "Trust me, go." With that he left the alleyway, shaking his head as he ran and mumbling something that sounded an awful lot like, "stupid idiot." Well, time to employ the diversion. "Hey Kevin!" The criminal was trailing behind us, obviously not able to keep up with two guys who'd been working out steadily for the last three months. "Let me know how jail is buddy."

With that I surrounded myself in a bright biotic shimmer that lit up the dark alleyway. "What the-?" The words were frozen on his lips as I threw my hand forward and encased him in biotic energy with the technique known as, "stasis." My distraction now complete, I gave a little mocking salute as I turned tail and booked it out of there, chuckling to myself the whole time.

As I rejoined Vega he gave me a weird look due to my laughter. "Don't worry," I waved him off, "tell you all about it at the party, alright? For now let's just focus on losing these guys."

"Sounds good, stick on my back and follow my lead. This isn't my first time."

"That's what she said." A big shit-eating grin covered my face.

He simply looked over as if to say, "now, really?" With those important words said, we ran through the streets of California, ducking in and out of alleyways, over fences and through businesses. "Hey, we're almost here. Duck in that doorway to the right after me and do what I do."

As we approached the building, our pathway lit by red neon lights, I looked up and saw the sign, "Gustavo's." I looked over at Jimmy questioningly. "Best Mexican food in the city, I stop in every few days and I know all the staff."

"I'm with you man, whatever you think."

After that we ducked into the building, quickly trying to appear casual. Jimmy led me over to a booth and we took seats opposite each other, making sure that both of us had a clear view of the windows looking outside without being clearly visible. A few seconds after we sat down a cute, Hispanic girl about our age came over with a couple menus. Following Jimmy's example I took mine and looked at intently, making sure that it covered my face.

"Hey Jimmy, what can I get for you and your friend tonight?" At that moment loud shouts could be heard and all but two of the occupants of the building turned towards the window to see policemen on foot running by yelling about something unintelligible. A knowing smile crossed the woman's face. "Now I see, dragging somebody else into your little adventures now?"

I looked up, giving a big shit-eating grin, making sure to talk before he could say anything. "I volunteered actually. He's a good guy you know, little rough around the edges but we criminals have to stay together. Name's Wolf by the way."

"Oh, well I'm sure it's a pleasure to meet you then Wolf. Now, can I get you two ruffians some drinks before you go on your way? I know you have a party to get back to Jimmy, congratulations on your graduation by the way."

Once again I cut him off. "Thanks, it was close but we made it through. Also, I'll have a couple tacos to go. Jimmy here highly recommended them, oh and he'd also like to invite you to said graduation party over at his uncle Emilio's place tonight."

"Hey Lobo…"

"Yeah?"

"Shut up."

"Fine."

"Yeah what I was trying to say before I was rudely interrupted," he looked across the table at me, glaring, "is that we'd love to have you there tonight Alisa. There'll be food, drinks, dancing and all that fun stuff. If you get off work at a decent time of course."

"Sure, my shift's over in about twenty minutes so I'll just freshen up and then head over if that's ok."

Jimmy smiled. "Yeah that sounds great. I'll see you tonight then."

"Perfect. And I'll be back with your drinks and tacos in just a few minutes." She turned her head back towards us as she left. "Try not to get in trouble with the cops while I'm gone ok?"

"Thanks Alisa. We won't." I gave a friendly wave as she walked towards the kitchen. Turning back towards Jimmy, I had a big grin on my face. "So, she seems nice and friendly. Plus she's cute. Are you sure you come here for the food, no ulterior motives or anything?"

"Well, it doesn't hurt things that's for sure."

"Ask her out then. She obviously knows about your uh," I paused searching for the right word, "run-ins with the local law and doesn't seem too upset by it. You know, it doesn't seem like a big deal to you and me because we're the ones breaking the rules, but that freaks most people out."

"Yeah well, I'm leaving for Delta squad training and I'll be gone without leave for who knows how long so I don't want to do that to her alright?"

"Wait, I thought we were all going to the ten thirty-first? And you were supposed to be part of that we."

"Instructor Jackson personally selected me for Special Forces training at Graduation. I won't be joining you guys. And I leave the day after tomorrow so there's that."

"Wow, Jimmy." I leaned back to try and take in the news. The four of us had gotten pretty close over time and while I was really thrilled that Jimmy kicked ass and got recognized, it was also sad that we wouldn't be in the same platoon anymore. I guess it's true what they say about how going through hell is a good way to bring guys together. Eventually, my positive feelings won out. "That's really awesome man. I know you'll do great there. We'll stay in touch wherever we're both stationed and who knows, maybe we'll get lucky and both have leave at the same time."

"Yeah, I'll definitely miss you guys. It's been fun that's for sure. You take care of Ben and Mitch for me alright? Kick some ass too while you're at it." He gave a little laugh to try and alleviate the serious mood that had settled. "I didn't ask but where are you going for training. Ben's going for soldier specialization and Mitch for infiltrator, you didn't say though."

"Vanguard specialty, since I've got the biotics and am not too bad a shot either I guess it was a pretty natural choice for them to send me. I'm looking forward to it though. The biotics are coming along nicely but I still get tired easily. I don't have much control either. It's weird really, the attacks are actually coming to me much easier than if I were to, I don't know," I looked around and spotted a cup on the table, "lift that for example. Here watch."

Focusing intensely I lifted my hand and pointed at the mug before I felt the now-familiar pinpricks of my abilities coming alive. The object rattled a bit before lifting into the air slowly and then staying still. Sweat started to pour down my face from the effort and the cup started to shake in mid-air as my focus started to wane. A loud crash rang throughout the restaurant a brief moment later and I winced as shattered glass now covered the floor.

"Smooth, Lobo. I can't even take you out in public without you causing a scene."

"My bad."

A feminine voice interrupted my act of vandalism. "Nice, I'm just going to add that to your bill then."

"Sorry about that." I sheepishly looked up at our waitress who had just arrived with our food and drinks. "I'm still working on controlling them. I'll help clean up, wouldn't want you to be late for that party now would we? Thanks for the food."

I quickly went to work cleaning up the chaos I had caused. Once I had gathered the shards together and swept it all away I gave the trash back to Alisa. "Sorry about that, we'll just be going now before I wreck anything else."

We exited the building after I paid for everything, making sure to also give her a generous tip for putting up with us two. Jimmy and I turned as we were in the doorway. "See you in a few Alisa."

I gave a little salute. "Bye Alisa, it was great meeting you." I leaned forward and whispered really loudly. "Make sure you dance with Jimmy tonight, he's too shy to ask."

Suddenly, two strong hands grabbed me from behind and the last thing I saw of the restaurant was Alisa snickering with her hand covering her mouth. "Let's go Wolf, I'm getting you out of here now."

"You know, now that I'm actually in a relationship for the first time in my life, I feel like I need to set up my friends with people. I just want to share the happiness I guess." Laughing a bit at recollections of our exciting night, I took a bite of my taco as we walked. Jimmy was right, the food was excellent and I gave a contented sigh. "You know what the best part of being biotic is?"

"Being able to blow shit up with your mind?"

"Nope." I took another bite. "Now I have a legitimate excuse to eat as much as I want."

**LINE BREAK**

"Hey. You got it for me Jimmy?" A man who I assumed to be Jimmy's dad stepped out from behind our meeting place. I studied him as he approached. I could definitely see the family resemblance…if Jimmy really let himself go, grew scraggly long blonde hair, a big goatee and was tweny-five years older. The dude definitely fit the profile for someone with a sand issue.

"Yeah, I've got it right here Joshua." He practically spit out the name of his father as he threw the bag to the man. "Now, I'm out of here and going back to my graduation so goodbye, and hopefully I don't see you anytime soon."

I followed Jimmy as we left the shaded area and went to return to the party. "Hey, hey, no need to leave so soon son."

"Don't. Ever. Call me that. You lost that right a long time ago when you abandoned me to take up your drug addiction." He practically spat the words out. "And yes. I am leaving now, to go back to my **real** family. The guy who actually took care of me when Mom died. Bye."

"You know. I reconsidered. I think I'll tell the Alliance about your little, 'dealings,' in the past. See how long things last after that."

Vega's fists clenched and his face contorted angrily. "You wouldn't dare."

He leaned forward and smirked. "We'll just see about that now won't we?"

At that Jimmy rushed forward, fists cocked to deal a heavy blow. "Hey!" I jumped in and pinned his arms back. "Don't do this right now Jimmy. He's not worth it, let's just get back to Emilio's place and settle down alright?"

He struggled for another couple seconds before exhaling loudly. "Fine, let's get the hell out of here."

"I'll be seeing you soon Jimmy." The man had to make one final quip as we left.

"You'd better hope not." Vega whirled around and put his fist up to the man's face in the blink of an eye. "Next time, Lobo here won't be around to hold me back. And things will not end well for you when that happens, I guarantee that."

With that whole nasty business out of the way we walked back to the party in silence, well besides Jimmy muttering unmentionable things the whole time about various things he was going to do for payback. As we returned to the party we were met by his uncle, Emilio. "Jimmy? Where have you been?" Seeing the fuming young man he softened his tone. "What's wrong kid?"

Jimmy then began to describe in detail the events of our little misadventure with me making the occasional contribution in fleshing out the story or just making a sarcastic quip. "And then when we got back and delivered the stuff Joshua said that he was still going to the Alliance with the info if I don't quit and stay at home. I don't know what to do." 

His uncle gave a dismissive wave. "He's all talk. If he goes to the Alliance with that he's implicating himself in the whole thing which I'm sure he does not want to do."

"So what do I do?" Vega questioned his uncle.

"You call the old bastard's bluff. He's not gonna do jack shit about it if you just stand up to him and go back to the Corps. Trust me on this one Jimmy."

"You really think that he's not going to do anything if I go back." A slightly hopeful look began to dawn on his face, as if he wanted it to be true but didn't want to get his hopes smashed if it wasn't.

"Son, I know so."

He nodded slightly. "Alright then, well, I guess I've still got a party to host so I'll get back to it then. Let's go Wolf."

Strolling into the backyard I took a seat next to Emma who was sitting by herself just watching the dancing that was still going strong with a slight smile on her face. "Miss me?" I put my around her shoulder and gave her a hug, resting my head on top of hers.

"Where were you Nate? Last thing I know you were talking to Jimmy and then I turn around and both of you guys are gone. What happened?"

"Oh, uh," I scratched my hair, "he had some supplies to pick up…for the party. I didn't want him to go alone you know, I mean it's his party and all so I figured I'd help him out, that way we could get back quicker."

She seemed hesitant for a second but ultimately decided to believe me, at least for now. "Ok, you alright though? You seem off."

"Yeah yeah, I'm perfectly fine, just a little down. Jimmy got selected for special ops training so he's not going to be with the Ten Thirty-First like the rest of us. Obviously I'm really happy for him but at the same time I'll miss the big guy. He was a really good friend, had my back and helped me through some tough situations back in boot camp."

She grabbed my hand and gave it a little squeeze. "Sure, I understand, it's definitely a bittersweet situation. You guys can still stay in touch though. I mean we did it alright so I know you two can stay in touch. All you have to do is make sure that you put in that effort."

"You're right of course." I leaned over and gave her a quick peck on the cheek. "You still glad we stayed in touch?"

Emma gave a teasing grin. "I guess it's been ok so far. As long as you keep behaving and don't get into any more trouble we should be just fine. So yes, I guess I am glad we stayed in touch."

"Um, yeah. Not getting into trouble, right." I intensely studied the ground.

"What did you do now?"

There was danger in that voice that couldn't be missed. Option one, 'fess up and she gets pissed but you told the truth. Option two, lie and hope she believes it. What the hell…I'll switch it up for once and try honesty. "Well, that errand I mentioned was actually a drug run for Jimmy's estranged drug-addled dad who was threatening to tell the Alliance about Vega's past if he didn't help him one more time. So yeah, to sum things up, we met his dad, purchased Red Sand, ran from the cops, hid in a local restaurant, gave the stuff to his dad and now we're back here, at the party."

"Nathaniel Drake Wolfert." Oh crap, she used my whole name. Everyone knows that when someone uses your full title you're always in trouble. Yeah, she's got her "irritated" face on. "You cannot go getting in trouble like that all the time. You're going to get caught one of these days, now look I know you wanted to help your pal but you need to learn about a little thing called self-preservation otherwise you're going to end up in jail or worse all right? What's the point of leaving Detroit to clean yourself up if you keep getting sucked back in?"

"Yeah, I know." Hanging my head I continued. "I'm not trying to make excuses or anything because I want to stay on the straight and narrow but my past on the streets definitely blurred the moral lines of right and wrong for me a little bit. I wanna be better than that though." I thought about the events of the night, trying to put a positive spin on things. "Hey, I did imprison a drug dealer though so there's that. Before I probably would have let the guy go and just booked it."

"Well," she scratched her chin in thought, "I guess that is a positive thing."

I mumbled quickly and covered it up with a cough. "Of course it was to save my own skin."

"What was that?"

"Sorry, I think I had a chip or something stuck in my throat."

My brunette companion squinted at me in disbelief. "Sure, whatever you say Nate."

"Hey come on, I told you about the incident at least. I'm getting better about things." She looked at me skeptically. "Fine." I put my right hand over my heart and raised my other one. "I solemnly swear from now on to tell you the truth about any misadventures I have, not to leave any details out, 'accidentally' and not tell any half-truths."

"I think that sounds like a great plan. And I promise to believe what you say when you say it and not to doubt that you're leaving anything out. Unless you're really obviously lying."

"That's fair." I grinned broadly. "So, is this our first fight?"

"Nope, if it was a fight I would have been much angrier and you would be a lot less smiley."

"Well, what would you say if I did this?" With that I activated my biotics and picked her up off the chair. In response she gave a little yelp of fright, which caused me to laugh loudly as I moved her over and set her down on my lap.

As soon as her mass had returned she shoved my chest good-naturedly, too shocked at my actions to even be angry. "Nate you scared me!" In response I simply kept chuckling, immensely pleased that I had managed to frighten her a little bit. "It's not funny you jerk!"

"It is a little funny. You've got to admit it." I finally managed to corral my amusement. "And trust me, I've been called much worse than that."

"Just don't do it again."

"Sorry, I'm already full up on promises for tonight. Besides, you're really cute when you're angry." I snuggled my head into her neck. "Seriously though, I'm really glad you made it out here. It means a lot for me to have you and Jack here for this big moment in my life."

"Well, I'm glad I could be here then."

**A/N: Awww, Jimmy's leaving *sad face* hopefully, I've done a decent job portraying his character as it's the only character in canon (besides the M!Shep cameo) that I've had the chance to write so far. Coming up soon there's going to be a quick summary of the six months of Vanguard training that Wolf is going through. I really do not feel like writing what's basically going to be the same thing over again but longer and more specialized, so there's that.**

**And yes, Ranger Station Charlie is still my main Beta man…who has way better ideas than me :(**

**Unity9: Wait, which announcement? Do you mean the one at the end of the sim…I'm confused (Not that it takes much to do that)**

**Fenris (Sorry I am not going to write that whole thing out because I'm lazy): Thanks so much, glad it's to your liking so far because one of the things I've really tried to do is make the characters believable and not just walking, one-liner spouting, death machines who steamroll everyone in their way.**

**I do plan on finishing the story (who doesn't?) even though that's a long way off…I've currently written into the mid-thirties chapter wise and the story is still in 2180 so if this story was Mt. Everest I'd just be chilling at the bottom looking up and up and up, etc.**

**Guest: Thanks for the advice. I don't want to spoil anything in the future but I definitely appreciate the feedback and it'll be taken into consideration when I plot the story. And don't worry, I didn't take it as you trying to hate on the story or anything, reviews are for sharing your opinion and that's what you're doing.**

**RSC: I know in everything that I've read (since my military experience is nill) one of the things they try to instill in Boot Camp is a sense of the history of the branch you're going in so the idea of Shanxi was one that stuck out to me while also lending itself nicely to a combat scenario.**

**If I had to use an analogy Wolf is like a toddler in terms of his biotic capabilities, able to walk and talk a little bit but still pretty wobbly overall.**

**The whole omni-blade thing kind of struck me last time I was playing ME3 multiplayer…it's really loud to say the least. You'd think that something that's going to probably need to be used in a stealthy manner would be able to generate without waking the dead. (And Wolf's going to get a signature knife of his own in the future to satisfy his strange need for a bladed weapon at all times.)**

**I'm really convinced that my GPS is possessed sometimes. Just the other day it went from my turn being twenty miles ahead to telling me to immediately take a right…I was on a bridge.**

**Seriously though, biotics would kick so much ass. The potential to screw with people would be too much to resist, so much havoc could be wreaked.**

**Fallout Fan: Thank God for giant Alabamians right?**

**This is only the beginning of Wolf's general problems with anything technology related…let's just say that electronics and him don't get along too well.**


	15. Street Fighting Man

***To avoid confusion any reference to dad unless explicitly stated otherwise in the story from now on means Jack Ramsey is being referenced and not Nate's actual birth father.**

After the party was over we all said our goodbyes to Jimmy and wished him good luck as we went on our way. Ben took an airbus back home to Alabama with promises that he'd stay in touch and catch up with us after Soldier specialization training. Mitch actually ended up staying the night with the three of us at a hotel since the Vega house was packed to the brim with guests staying the night and Mitch's parents couldn't make it out for the graduation. The three guys took one room while Emma got the other one, Jack offered for us to share but both of us agreed we weren't to **that **stage of the relationship yet so the lucky girl got a room to herself. I know it was a little hypocritical because we had shared a room previously but that was an extreme scenario due to my injuries and being on the run, besides nothing of that nature happened anyway unless you count snuggling next to each other on a couch. Speaking of couches, Dad was kind enough to sleep on that and let Mitch and I each take one of the beds. He said that his memories of the sleeping arrangements at boot camp were not the brightest and he figured that we'd appreciate sleeping in a real bed as a nice change from the last few months of our existence. And yes those mattresses did feel heavenly after sleeping on glorified cots disguised as bunk beds for a while now.

I had even started calling Jack Dad, for the most part, while we were together on the road. I thought it would feel a little strange at first and it was, but it was a good strange. I guess I finally came to the realization during camp when I was thinking about everything that led me there of just how much he had gone through for me. For some reason unknown to me, the old man really did care and wanted the best for me, even if we traded friendly barbs sometimes. And that's pretty much what parents do right? Feed you, clothe you, call you out when you're acting like an idiot, which he did all the time. For not ever raising kids before, he did a great job of giving advice on life but not stifling me with feeling like I had to do something because he thought it was right. He also had always treated me like an adult capable of making my own decisions, which I really appreciated. I guess he figured I was a stubborn nineteen year old anyway so I probably would do what I wanted regardless but still, he never beat me over the head with an I told you so.

When we woke up Mitch talked to his parents and after chatting with them for a few minutes invited me out to visit Terra Nova for the first few days of leave which I accepted. Not before checking with Emma first of course, I'm not that stupid. She had to work extra hours anyway to make up for her taking time off so she said to go out and have some fun before Vanguard school. After that the four of us went our separate ways, Dad and Emma on a bus back home, Mitch and I taking a shuttle to their home on the capitol of Terra Nova.

Once we arrived the two of us were greeted by the three other members of the Woley family, Marcus, Abigail and Mitch's eighteen year old sister Jacqueline, or Jackie as everybody called her. She looked scarily close to a female version of Mitch as both were short, slender blondes with piercing emerald eyes and thin but strong facial features. To be honest it was freaking me out a little as Jackie was very attractive despite the similarities. Take that how you will, I tried not to think about it. Especially now that I was going steady with Emma and I was off limits to the entire female population.

"Mitch!" The three of them yelled as they swarmed and engulfed him in a massive hug. "We've missed you so much." Mrs. Woley grabbed his face and gave him a kiss on the cheek from on tiptoes. Yeah, Mitch was the tallest in the family at five and a half feet tall. Needless to say I felt really out of place, both because of my height and the fact that I was basically intruding on a family reunion.

"Mom! I love you but come on, I'm twenty years old now and a Marine, you're embarrassing me."

"Mitchell Robert Woley, I am your mother and I have not seen you in three months so I think you can deal with the embarrassment." She gave his cheek a final pinch which he simply sighed at in defeat.

"And you must be Nathan Wolfert, Mitch has told us so much about you!"

"I hope not, Mrs. Woley, ma'am." I flashed a warm smile. "And please just call me Nate or Wolf, no one uses my full name anyway." And yes, that was a completely truthful answer. My past wasn't a big secret or anything but they seemed like a really nice family and I wouldn't want to worry them that their son was now war buddies with a thug from the streets of Detroit with a rather checkered past to say the least.

"Well, in that case we can't have you on technicalities with us either. I'm Abigail, but you can just call me Abby, this is my husband Marcus and Mitch's younger sister Jackie." I shook the hands of the latter two who both smiled in a very welcoming manner but when I went for Abigail's hand she pulled me into a hug which I somewhat awkwardly returned. "We're so thankful for everything you did to befriend Mitch at boot camp. He said having someone to talk to right away really helped him with the transition."

I looked over to Mitch and gave a big grin. In turn he rolled his eyes, already knowing exactly where this was going. "Wow, did you say all that Mitch? That's really sweet. But honestly Mrs. Woley." She raised her eyebows. "Sorry, Abigail. He helped me out way more, I wouldn't have made it through water week or the chambers where they tear gassed us if it wasn't for him. Honestly, he was great."

Jackie interrupted. "So they really teargased you both? I just thought Mitch was trying to pull a fast one on me when we talked."

"Nope. It definitely happened."

"Before you two tell us about camp why don't we go back to the house?" Mr. Woley spoke for the first time. "We can all take the aircar back, I'll pick up some food for you boys on the way and we can relax out on the deck since it's such a beautiful night."

After that we all piled into the vehicle and headed back to the Woley household. The family quizzed us for the entire ride back and we went into detail on all the various misadventures at camp. Overall it was just really nice to be able to kick back and relax after the intense training we had just gone through. Everyone was really welcoming and I don't know if Mitch didn't tell them about my rough past or they just didn't care but either way they made me feel right at home.

Eventually we arrived at the Woley house. "Wow, nice place your family's got here Mitch." As we approached the residence I gave a quick look around the premises. While not a mansion per se, when compared to anything back in the Detroit slums it looked like a damn palace. Obviously architectural work was pretty good to Mr. Woley, not only was the actual house well-maintained but even the lawn looked immaculate.

Everyone walked in and we sat down for a nice dinner which was something new to me. It was a weird experience having dinner as a family, I don't ever remember doing it before since I was always eating either with the Reds or Jack. Looking back now, I probably looked like a slob since an unmarried, ex-marine isn't really the type of guy to teach table manners but no one said anything negative whatsoever and was very accepting.

"Just make yourself right at home Nathan." Abigail Woley spoke to me over her shoulder as she cleaned up after dinner. "You need anything just grab it for yourself and if you can't find it then just ask. Our house is your house."

"Thanks so much Abigail, it was nice of you and Mr. Woley to buy dinner. And I really appreciate you opening up your house and having me for these four days. It's really kind of you and Mr. Woley."

"No problem honey."

I looked around the room. "Have you seen Mitch? I wanted to ask him about his plans for tonight."

After being given directions to Mitch's bedroom I raced upstairs, leaping up the carpeted steps. Almost running into Mitch's little sister as I rounded the corner. "Sorry, Jack, didn't see you there. Hope you don't mind if I call you that by the way, it's kind of my thing to shorten people's name."

"It's no problem at all. Only my parents and Mitch actually use my full name." She gave a warm smile.

"Yeah, my dad and Daxyrus are really the only ones who call me by my full name. Everyone else it's usually just Wolf unless they're aggravated with me.

A quizzical look crossed the blonde's face. "Who's Daxyrus? Never heard of that for a guy before."

"Oh, he's a…he's a, Turian," I fumbled looking for how to describe what happened without going into too much detail. I wasn't hiding what happened but now was not the time, "that I ran into back in Detroit. He was in a rough situation, I got him out of it and then he took up my unofficial dad's offer of a job at the weapons and armor store that he runs."

"You lead an interesting life you know that?" She squinted at me.

"I like it that way. Keeps me on my toes." I shrugged.

"Apparently, Mitch danced around your experiences in Detroit and from what he did and didn't say I could tell that much."

"What'd be the point of life if everything was boring?" I gave a smirk. "Mitch in his room?" After she pointed out the Marine's room I finished my trek and busted in, not even bothering to knock, only to see Mitch with his back to me, shirtless and changing into civilian attire. Hey, when you share a room with a guy for that long privacy basically goes out the window. "Hey, what are we doing tonight buddy?"

I vaulted myself up, landing on his soft mattress and spreading out to make myself comfortable. Not even bothering to turn around, he answered. "Ever heard of knocking Wolf?"

"Nope, my past life as a criminal out on the streets didn't really teach me much about common courtesies. My apologies, sir." I snarked as I looked up at the ceiling.

"Fine, you're forgiven. Man, I do not miss fatigues at all." Now completed with his change in attire, he turned around with a big grin on his face. "And I did have something special in mind for tonight, it's a sort of Marine tradition from what people have told me."

"You know, I don't like the look on your face right now. If I end up naked in a field somewhere, I will not be happy."

He chuckled a little bit. "No, it's something better." Don't even want to know what he meant by that. "Let's just say that your chest art is going to have a companion piece."

Crap.

**LINE BREAK**

I winced as the needle scraped along my chest for the last time. Closing his omni-tool, the piercing guy as I'd called him for the last eternity that he'd been putting designs onto my chest, stepped away. I looked down at my bare chest, on one side was the raised numeral ten of the Tenth Street Reds, the other pectoral was now covered in a large new tattoo that matched the art on the diminutive blonde to my right.

Mitch was determined to get, "inked up," to celebrate our new graduation and had settled on the image for the First Battalion, Fourth Marines. The design was a large blue diamond with a white star at each of the four corners. On the interior of the diamond was a large, orange-yellow dragon coiled around a downwards-pointed dagger. The only words were, "1st Battalion, 4th Marines," in individual red scrolls at the top left and top right corners. Directly below the two, also in red scroll were the words, "Whatever It Takes." Now that's a slogan that actually makes sense. I do like that about the Alliance, the phrases, while corny, were effective and to the point.

Piercing-man spoke up after seeing that I was done observing the tattoo. "What do you think dude?"

"Looks good, thanks. I am going to murder the guy next to me though now if you don't mind."

Not understanding the sarcasm, or just not caring, he instead ignored my declaration and asked a question in a rather lazy tone of voice. "So, what's up with your chest? It was staring me in the face while I was doing the tat basically the whole time. Pretty hardcore."

"You know how it goes." I gave a little shrug. "You're at a friend's place, some guy gets out a red-hot brand with a "10" on it and asks who's not a bitch. Now it's a real party and next thing you know you're passed out on the floor and your chest feels like someone's been stomping on it for a good long while."

The tattoo artist just gave a little grunt as he put a clear protective covering over the marking, obviously doubting my poorly constructed story. I really didn't much care whether he believed me or not. Well, at least like Mitch said I now had a companion piece to even out my mark. I guess it's better than some of the alternatives. You know, I wonder if Jack has any tattoos. Mitch did say that it was Marine tradition. All I know is that my chest hurts like hell right now.

I rolled out of the chair, careful not to move too much. I waited a moment as Mitch was busy flirting with the woman giving him his tattoo. Unfortunately I couldn't hear anything they were saying but all I saw is that they talked, Mitch got up, examined the tattoo, said something else, the redhead blushed, they both opened up their omni-tools and Mitch was leaving with a friendly wave. He really was a man built for the ladies. It had to have been his short stature putting them at ease or something like that.

"What do you think?" I pointed to my chest before throwing my shirt back on, careful not to disrupt the film that now covered the tattoo. Ouch. That did not feel great.

"Looks good buddy, I did put mine in a much less discreet location though." He turned and flexed his muscular bicep which was now covered in a tattoo identical to mine on the outside of his arm. "I'm putting mine right on display for the world."

"Yeah I noticed, you going to hook up with the tattoo artist now too?"

He just gave a shrug. "We'll see, I've just got her number for now. Let's get home."

The next couple days flew by, Mitch showed me around Nova, we had a lot of fun and I got to spend some more time getting to know his family who in a continuation of the first night were all extremely kind. Things were pretty quiet until the last night before we left though. This time Mitch's, I'll be nice and say, outgoing, tendencies got us into trouble. The little guy decided that since it was the last night we were going to visit one of the watering holes around town and get a little crazy. Apparently the colony drinking age was eighteen and he was going to take advantage of it.

I don't drink. The stuff makes smart people do really stupid things but I agreed anyway, figured it would be fun to go out and meet some people. So there I was, nursing a coke at a secluded table, chatting with a couple guys and gals from the local college, talking about my time on Earth while Woley tried to pick up a beautiful raven haired woman sitting by the bar. From the quick glances I stole over there the two actually seemed to be hitting it off. As the girl laughed lightheartedly, Mitch's efforts were interrupted however by a rather large individual who did not appear pleased in the slightest.

Excusing myself from my present company with a hurried goodbye I crossed the bar floor in a matter of seconds. "-trying to hit on my girl?"

Mitch quickly swung off the stool he was sitting on. Defiantly, he stepped up until he was within an arm's length. "Get your damn hands off me. I didn't even know, nothing happened, we're all good big guy."

"Alright just get out of here then." He motioned towards the door.

"Although she didn't really seem to mind my company too much while you were gone." Shit, you just had to get in one little quip didn't you Mitch?

Without warning the man grabbed Woley's shirt, shoving him backwards causing the blonde to fall onto his ass and slide into another group of patrons. Quickly popping back up, he prepared to launch a flurry of fists into the poor guy's face but his attack was interrupted by my timely arrival.

"Hey ass-face." I tapped the man's shoulder from behind and he quickly turned around, face red with anger. His expression was quickly changed as I brought my fist up and crashed it into his chin with a heavy right uppercut. Spit flying from his mouth as his head whiplashed back, he toppled over the bar counter and into some of the arranged liquors which in turn crashed onto the floor with a near deafening sound. You gotta love collateral damage.

A loud male voice rang throughout the establishment. "BAR FIGHT!" With those two short words all hell broke loose. I quickly found my squadmate and the two of us went back-to-back as angry patrons began to swarm around us like an angered swarm of insects. Most of the customers made a beeline for the door but a few particularly pissed off friends of Mitch's aggressor rushed into the fray.

Fists up, elbows tucked and feet spread about shoulder length apart, I readied myself for the oncoming attacker who had a nasty looking broken bottle in hand. "What the hell did you do Woley? Now do you see why I don't drink?"

The combatant threw his right hand towards me in a straight jab, improvised weapon firmly clutched. Thankfully the man was slightly inebriated so his movements, while potentially harmful if they connected, were slow. I'd been getting my ass kicked by Jimmy Vega day in and day out for the last three months, this guy was nothing. Hell, I'd fought faster guys back in Detroit. Instead of backing up I stepped towards the man and slightly left, hitting him right behind the elbow of his outstretched arm with my open left hand. Instead of the bottle hitting me in the face as was his intention, the blow swung wide and I took advantage with a blow to the ear with a cupped hand followed by an open-palm blow to the man's nose.

The two blows delivered in quick succession, in addition to the already addled state he was in, completely disoriented the man and he stepped back, dropping the bottle in order to better clutch his bleeding nose. Wanting to end the fight quickly and help Mitch I pressed the advantage, delivering two elbows to either side of the ribcage and then concluding the one-sided bout with a front kick to the solar plexus that completely floored the guy. And that people, is why you don't fight when drunk. Especially against a completely sober Marine.

I turned around, Mitch was unable to be seen as three aggressive individuals had surrounded him and backed him up to a wall. The four were trading blows furiously and as I sprinted over one of the men gave a loud cry as his head snapped back, the result of a stroke to the chin from Mitch. That left just two.

With a loud yell I tackled one of the combatants left standing. Unfortunately the guy recovered a lot quicker than I expected, before I could do anything he pinned me to the cold floor with his body and reigned blows on my face. Trying to minimize the damage, I brought both arms up to guard, waiting for an opportunity to strike back. Punch after punch flew towards me, most being blocked by my forearms but every so often one would sneak through. Yeah I'm definitely gonna wake up tomorrow with a nice black eye along with a couple bruises to say the least.

Searching for a way out of this precarious situation I was now in, my eyes roamed the surface of the bar before settling on a bottle that had rolled close to my chest. Now to wait. As the sound of Mitch fighting still broadcasted in the background I finally saw my opportunity when the man leaned in and cocked his fist back to deal a blow to my temple. Pushing off the floor I smashed my forehead into his in a violent clash of skulls.

A burst of color clouded my vision and I fiercely shook my head in an effort to clear my sight before my opponent could recover. As the room came back into focus I felt the cold glass of the bottle on my hand. In the blink of an eye I picked up the improvised weapon and smashed the hard object into the bastard's head with a resounding crack.

I picked myself up off the ground with a groan of pain, my body felt like it'd been put through a rinse cycle. Surveying the room, which was practically empty besides the men rolling around on the ground that had been on the wrong end of the fight, I noticed that all our adversaries were out of commission thank God. If there was anyone else they would have kicked my ass without a doubt. The only one left upright was Mitch, who stood over his opponent, wiping his wounded face as both his lip, forehead and the area just under his right eye were bleeding profusely.

With a weary but defiant smile he turned to where I was standing and gave a little nod. "You good Wolf?"

"Yeah," I threw my arm over his shoulder, "let's go home and get that taken care of. Don't want your parents to freak when they see you."

"Sounds good to me, I don't think there's anybody here to get us a drink anyway." As we walked through the carnage Mitch stopped at the last guy I had knocked out. In the last couple minutes he had already grown a large purple bruise that covered the entire left side of his face. "What happened to this guy?"

I chuckled lowly. "Well, I guess you could say he suffered from grievous, bottle-y harm." My green-eyed comrade just shook his head and sighed in disappointment as we exited the building.

**LINE BREAK**

"What the hell happened to you guys?"

We had returned home from our incident at the bar and to our great misfortune Jackie was still awake. I thought for sure that we would be in the clear since it was so late but now we were busted. The two of us must have looked like an absolute mess. My entire face was black and blue from the beating I received after tackling the one man, plus, my nice white shirt was now stained with blood from the three cuts Mitch had received.

"Wolf tripped. I tried to stop him and scraped up my face." Wow Mitch, nice one man. Even my little, let's just call them truth workarounds, are more believable than that.

"Mitch hit on guy's girl. Guy got mad and shoved Mitch onto the ground. I called guy mean name and punched him in the jaw. Guy's friends got involved and started bar fight. Mitch and I won after a few minutes and numerous wounds suffered. That's the story, happy?"

"Thanks Wolf, that story sounds much more like Mitch." She smiled at me before patting her older brother's cheek, causing him to wince as his cuts were touched. "It's good to know somebody around here can be honest. You guys won though right? Come inside and tell me all about it."

That's how I found myself telling my friend's little sister all about how we kicked the shit out of five random guys at a local watering hole while drinking some lemonade that she had whipped up for us at one in the morning. "-and that's when I smashed the bastard's head with a bottle of booze. By that point Mitch had beat up his guy and we left the place."

"But not before he made the worst pun I've ever heard. I asked him what he did and he just said," here he deepened his voice in a mockery of my own. "I guess you could say it was grievous, bottle-y harm."

Jackie just blinked. "You really said that?" Instead of answering directly, I just grinned sheepishly. "Wow. That's terrible. Just plain awful. That is without a doubt the worst pun ever. Of all time."

"Come on it wasn't…alright fine it was terrible I admit it." I moved from my position on the floor of the Woley living room and went to sit on the couch next to Jackie.

"Yeah that's not going to happen. Mom would murder you if you sat down on her nice furniture with your blood-stained shirt. Mitch changed, you can too."

"Fine. How's this?" Taking off my shirt, I threw it across the room at Mitch who was sitting on his own chair. Reacting quickly, he knocked the shirt to the floor with a backhand strike. "Okay to sit down now Jackie?"

She gave a wolfish grin. Oh great. "Make yourself right at home."

"Really sis, you're going to hit on him? The scarred wonder? Right in front of me too?"

"Yup."

"Sorry, I'm in a committed relationship. Mitch is my friend, you're his sister and those kind of things never end well. Plus, you look so much like him it kind of freaks me out that I think you're pretty."

She laughed a bit at my ending. "Fine." She moved in a bit closer and touched the ten that was emblazoned on it. "You can at least tell me what that's all about though. That doesn't look like a regular tattoo." I swallowed loudly. Bad touching.

"Would you believe me if I told you that it was a cooking accident from when I was a child." The blonde young woman shook her head. I sighed and got ready to tell my story once again. "I was a gang member back in Detroit. For initiation they branded me with this and then wanted me to kill a random Turian. I said no and shot both of them in the leg. After that I decided to join the Marines, unfortunately not before I got chased by a bunch of thugs and got this." I pointed to the ragged scar on my chin that was now a long white line. "I met Mitch on the bus and that's how my beautiful friendship with your brother started."

Mitch just rolled his eyes while his sister studied me intently. "Like I said earlier, you lead an interesting life."

"Yeah, I get that a lot. I didn't ask for it, it just happened."

**A/N: Finals are done today *runs around house screaming* finally finished with my first semester of college so now I'll have more time to write and play Destiny when I'm not working. Life is good.**

**I'm going to see how long I can keep up this twice a week update schedule, it'll for sure be through the end of the year but after that I might have to go back to once a week on Fridays but we'll see how it goes.**

**Ranger Station Charlie is my main Beta man and I thank him profusely for all the help he's given so far.**

**Unity9: Fine, I guess I'll try to. How's the crossover coming by the way?**

**RSC: Yeah I know that biotics still face a fair amount of suspicion back on Earth from civilians so we'll have to see how he deals with that if and when he returns back to Earth. And yes, asari being natural-born biotics is completely OP.**

**I've never read the comics or anything besides the summaries on wiki pages so when Vega was introduced in ME3 I was like, "who the F is this muscled-up dude acting all buddy-buddy with Shepard?" I really wanted to give a little insight into his backstory and when I started reading into the timeline I saw that it actually fit almost exactly with how and when I wanted Wolf to enter the Marines so it just worked out really nicely that way.**

**Thanks, I know my romance writing is still not the greatest to say the least but the only way to get better is to keep working at it so I just try and improve every chapter and hopefully by the end of it I'll be halfway-competent at writing it believably.**

**Guess: Hey there's nothing wrong with chilling and grilling, not every party's gotta be a complete shitshow. I'm sure if Vega didn't have to take off for Special Forces though it'd be a whole 'nother story, he seems like the type of dude who could handle his liquor.**

**Yeah, can't really say because I've never been in that scenario but I've got a couple friends who've done it and seen them struggle with it. Long-distance can definitely kill a relationship if you're not careful, hell even if you are it's still crazy difficult.**

**The Darth Revan: I don't wanna spoil anything but it's safe to assume that Wolf and the Reds will definitely have more run-ins somewhere in the future so you will most definitely get your wish.**

**Like I said above, I liked the idea of having Wolf and Jimmy meet early on in the story and stay somewhat in touch but I still wanted to have Jimmy doing his thing on Fehl Prime and all that later on in the timeline so this was how I balanced the two and it actually fits within canon because 2176 was the year Vega signed up, hurray for the ME wiki timeline!**

**140.85: Thanks, I've been working on trying improve the quality of the romance aspect. I know it's not the greatest and it's slow-going but I'm still plugging away at it.**

**I can definitely see Wolf having a bit of fun messing with people as the story goes on. He definitely has a trickster aspect to his mentality and I think having biotics to screw with people will lend itself to that nicely.**

**My thinking along those lines was basically that handpicked graduates from camp would go into the six specialized, "classes," based on their particular skill set. For example, Mitch's proficiency with tech and handling of weapons naturally would line up with Infiltrators whereas Wolf has skill with pistols and biotics which would point towards being a Vanguard. My headcanon is that the six classes would be the equivalent of an Army Ranger or something along those lines, not quite to the level of a Seal or Delta operator but still a notch above the regular infantry grunts because of their specialized focus on developing their combat skills.**


	16. Bullets in the Gun

"Nathan, we've loved so much to have you over at our house." Mrs. Woley gave a friendly hug. "You're welcome here anytime."

"Thanks so much, Abigail. Your family is wonderful and don't you worry about Mitch, the little guy's safe with me. I'll keep him out of trouble." I shoved the Marine with my elbow and in response he just rolled his eyes. "Mitch, I'll catch up with you after training. Good luck in Infiltrator school buddy, kick some ass for me."

"You too Wolf." I walked over to Jackie and Mr. Woley. "Jackie, it was great hanging out with you these last few days. Just keep Mitch in line while I'm gone."

She laughed a bit. "Don't worry, I'm scarier than any drill instructor out there. Stay safe out there Wolf," she lowered her voice and whispered in a confidential aside, "no more bar fights ok?"

"No promises." I winked mischievously at the young lady.

"Wolf, let me walk you to your transport." Marcus Woley took my hand and shook it with a firm grip before leading me towards the entrance for the shuttle. I waved goodbye over my shoulder to the rest of the Woley family. "Now I don't know if Mitch told you or not but at first I didn't approve at first of my boy becoming a Marine." 

I turned to look at the grim face of Evan Woley. "He'd mentioned it…sir." From the tone of voice he was using I felt the, "sir," was appropriate. He seemed serious about whatever it was that he was about to bring up.

"I figured, now I have come around since then to my wife's way of thinking and couldn't be prouder of Mitch, he graduated with very high marks from what I've heard. Even though I wish he would have followed in my footsteps to become an architect I now realize that I was wrong to try and force him into something he didn't want to do. However, I worry constantly about him now that he's become a Marine. I know that he's going to be in dangerous situations and it does ease my fears a little bit now that I know he's found a friend who," he coughed a bit as if to give himself time to plot out what he was going to say, "knows how to handle himself in a fight."

"Mr. Woley sir, I appreciate the thought but I'm nothing special, just another average Marine." I tensed up a bit, not knowing where he was going with this conversation.

"Relax son, I asked Mitch about you before you came and he didn't outright say, but the things he left out spoke more to me than what he actually said. You've had a shady past that you seem to be running from." He raised a hand up to interrupt my interjection. "I know you're trying to clean yourself up, he told me that you want to leave that life behind."

"Yes sir, I want to make things right more than anything. Having someone stable like Mitch as a friend instead of the usual thugs I've associated with in the past means a lot to me."

"Good, glad to hear it. I have just one request before you go."

"Name it sir."

He exhaled loudly. "Promise me that whatever trouble you two get into, you'll get Mitch out of there."

"Wow sir, I'm really honored that you'd trust me with this, but we might get into some hairy situations…I don't know if I can guarantee that. I take my promises very seriously sir…even though I've been known to stretch the truth a bit in the past when I make a promise to somebody I mean it."

"Nathan, please." His face contorted into an expression that was almost pleading. "It'll make an old man sleep better at night."

Holy crap, this is a lot of pressure to put on one person. I don't know if I can handle this. After a long few seconds of inner debate I came to a decision. Standing up straight, I adopted a rigid posture. "Mr. Woley, I promise that as long as I can still move I'll do everything I can to get Mitch out of there. I'll die before I let something happen to him, no matter what the situation." Part of leaving the Reds behind was abandoning my, "me first," mentality, what better way than this?

"Thank you Nate."

With the added pressure from Evan Woley heavy on my mind I entered the aircraft headed back to Earth. Usually I can sleep in just about any situation but the entire trip the promise I had just made weighed heavily on my mind. I beat myself up internally. Nice one Wolf, I told myself as my hand traced the scar on my chin absentmindedly. You can hardly keep yourself safe and now you've got someone else to keep out of harm's way too. Hell, Emma only knew me for a couple days and she almost got kidnapped or worse. I shot Finch, a guy who used to be my friend although that was partially on him. Hell I already got into a bar fight with Mitch as company…even if that was somewhat his fault too. But the point is, people around me tend to get into trouble and it's usually more or less my fault.

I swore loudly. "Fucking hell." The occupants of the shuttle turned, giving me nasty looks which I simply shrugged off. I don't even know where I'm going to be stationed after Vanguard training, what if I go into battle? Elysium just got raided. If Shepard wasn't there that could have gone really terribly and the trouble with slavers is only getting worse. Shepard's a damn tier six biotic weapon, I just barely hit the fours. Sure I can shoot a little too but how in the hell am I supposed to protect someone in the middle of a firefight?

Sighing loudly. I settled into the seat which was surprisingly comfortable. I'll just have to get stronger then. There's at least six more months before anything happens so that gives me a bit of time. If I really dedicate myself in Vanguard training just maybe I'll be able to follow through on my promise. It's really the only option I have.

**LINE BREAK**

"Emma!" With a loud yell I ran towards my brunette girlfriend and swept her up in a hug. "I missed you. What do you say we go out for dinner tonight? And I promise there will be no thugs to disrupt things."

She gave a little half-smile. "What if I want there to be thugs? It makes things more exciting."

"Well in that case I'll go back and talk to Weisman right now. I'll just tell him, 'hey sorry about that whole shooting you in the knee thing. Mind sending a few of your guys to chase me, my girlfriend really wants to smash some poor guy over the head with a wooden instrument after I knock out the other two.'"

"You're so understanding." She grabbed my hand and swung it as we walked. "You have to admit though, it was really exciting. I just wish that I had snapped a picture of your face when I cracked that guy's head. You looked like you didn't know whether to faint, beat someone else up or kiss me."

I leaned in and gave her a peck on the lips. "It was probably a mixture of all three."

As I leaned in a loud voice from behind interrupted our flirting. "If you two kids are done smashing faces, I'd like to talk to my adopted hoodlum."

"Dad!" I ran over and hugged the larger ex-Marine. I've had to hug a lot of people lately. Hope that's not a trend. I'm not a big hug guy. "It's nice to be home. How are things around here, how's the store, how's old Daxy doing?"

"You can ask him yourself." Jack spun me around and I faced the turian, taking in the familiar sight of his charcoal-gray face with dark-blue paint emblazoned on it.

"Wolf." The turian stared at me, completely straight-faced. In response I tried my best not to crack a grin.

"How are you doing you big scaly bird-man?"

"Not too poorly, you hairless primate." I cracked and smiled broadly as I took the turian's three fingered hand, if you can call it a hand to shake. It's nice to be insulted again. I've missed that.

"Still working with pops?"

"Yeah, I'm helping with some of the mods and electronics over there. It reminds me of the old days, working with the cabals in Special Forces. Been a long time since I've been around so much military equipment but it's all starting to come back."

Dad cut in. "He's being too modest. Business has never been better. Customers are extremely satisfied and profits are way up. The man's a genius with any hardware I give him to work with." Dax just shrugged modestly. "With all the money I've been making I built an expansion onto the store. We now have an indoor range for customers to try weapons out before purchasing, also at Daxyrus' suggestion."

"That sounds awesome. I guess I should be congratulating you two then. I'd love to see the changes before Emma and I go out tonight."

"Sure thing kid." He appeared to lose himself in thought for a moment before remembering something, at which a devious grin appeared on his face. "Oh, and there's something else back there that I think you'll like to."

I turned to my lady-friend and extended my elbow, which she in turn slipped her arm into and we walked towards Jack's together. "Emma Perri, how do you feel about learning how to fire a gun?"

As we walked back to the store we made small talk. I told them all about the time I spent with the Woley family, leaving out some of the details about Jackie hitting on me of course. Some things are better left not told, I figured. I even showed off my new tattoo which everyone but Dax seemed to appreciate, guess that particular brand of art only applies to humans. Jack in turn revealed the N7 tattoo he had emblazoned on his upper back that just crept into his neck in return. Huh, never noticed it before now.

We walked into my dad's business and he went into the back before pulling out a box with a red wolf emblazoned on the top. I kinda like the logo. The N7 set the case down on the desk and opened it up only to reveal the pistol he had given me on my last day as a Red. Only now, instead of the midnight black, he had painted it in a mixture of grey, black and white camouflage that reminded me of the coat of a grey wolf. Speaking of that, there was also a blood-red insignia that matched the design on the box located on the slide of the weapon just over the handguard.

"Wow, this looks amazing. Wish I could take it back with me to the Corps for use."

Jack took the gun back and examined it. "It is pretty nice isn't it? A real beauty. I didn't do the work though. Dax did it all. He put in a few more technical upgrades too, in addition to the pretty stuff."

"Dax, you didn't have to do that. I do appreciate the work you did though, if the internals are as good as the external I can't wait to see it in action."

"It's the least I could do Wolf. It doesn't compare to what you did for me back at that warehouse where you saved my life but it's something. I only hope that maybe one day this'll save yours."

Wow, that's the most heartfelt thing I've heard Dax say. Quick, I need to break this up before it gets sappy. "Well I appreciate the sentiment but first let me test this thing out in the range to see how it works. What all'd you do to it anyway?"

"Well, first things first, the suppressor was already on there so barrel mods were out of the question. I upgraded the heat sinks so the firing capacity is nearly doubled. You'll be able to get off about ten shots before it needs to cool off, instead of the standard six with the M11. The thing kicks like a mule because of the stopping power so I upgraded the recoil dampeners to lessen that a bit. Also noticed it's only got a crappy set of iron sights on there so I put a little dot sight on there for quick target acquisition."

"Wow, that all?" I was shocked. In just three months the turian had completely overhauled what I had considered a superb weapon.

"Nope, best part is the laser sight on there. Now, an ordinary laser sight is complete garbage. You might as well go ahead and scream, 'shoot me, I'm over here.' This one though is only visible wearing your helmet or some other similar headgear. You can sync your omni-tool with the frequency and it'll only be visible to you and whatever teammates you key in to that frequency."

"How'd you do that?"

Dax just looked at me and then at Jack who shook his head to indicate a no. "I've heard from Jack that, no offence, you're an idiot with tech. You wouldn't understand all the technicalities of the thing. Plus it would bore you"

"You're right, long as it works I don't care too much about the details." Taking the thing back from Jack, I looked over it. "Let's go to the range."

With that, Dad led the three of us through the back of the store and into the previously hidden area of the store that led downstairs. "Wow, this bring back the memories Dax? Last time we were down here you were bleeding from your shoulder and I was recovering from being branded."

"Yeah, those were good times." The turian sighed dramatically in his peculiar flanging voice.

The previously vacant room was now turned into a vast firing range. Four stalls were set up, each with individual targets to fire at. "Let's get down to business. Pops, can you toss me an ammo block?" The older man pitched me one and I inserted it and flipped off the safety. Emma, watch how it's done. Might want some ear plugs though."

With that spoken I fired off three quick shots at the target each hitting center mass. The next three were more careful, I lined up the sight with the head of the target and put two into the head with the third hitting him in the neck. Not too bad, now let me see what it can do. I fired off shot after shot at the target until the pistol overheated and then looked at my work.

Not too bad, six to the chest, two to the legs, one in the head and one in the…junk. That would suck. I don't care what happens to me just please let me never get shot there. My musings were interrupted by the sound of someone to my right firing bullet after bullet at the target downrange. Head, head, neck, head, neck, head and…overheated. I stepped out from my booth at the shooting gallery only to see Jack setting down his own heavily modified M77 Paladin with a satisfied grin. Damn showoff.

I turned only to see Emma with a grin on her face. "He's a lot better than you."

"Yeah well he's also an old man who's been shooting guns for almost thirty years and was an N7. I would hope he is."

"You're just jealous."

Am I that transparent? "Yeah, you're right, I might be a little bit." I leaned forward over the stand to where I could get a clear view of Jack and Dax talking. "Nice shooting old man."

"Thanks kid." He studied my board. "You're getting better. Guess they still do teach you something at the Marines."

I fired off another few rounds. "I really like this gun." Studying it lovingly, I turned it from side to side. "I'm going to name her."

Emma and Dax just looked at me curiously before the turian turned towards the brunette. "Is that a human thing? It's a little strange."

"No, you're right. It's very disconcerting." The brunette turned back towards me, face scrunched up in a puzzled expression. "You're really going to name it Nate?"

I answered indignantly. "'It' is a she, and her name is now…Sofie. Any self-respecting Marine treats his gun like he would a…" I suddenly re-considered my choice of words since Emma was right there. And I'm guessing she would probably, scratch that, definitely, not enjoy being compared to a gun. "Any other fine piece of equipment that he or she works with on a daily basis." I ended weakly.

Emma just looked over at the old man, who shrugged. "It's true, this is Vera." He held out his Paladin. "Any gun who's gone through his or her paces earns a name and gender."

"So I was right…it is a weird human thing."

"You know what, forget that guy Emma. I told you I was going to teach you how to shoot a pistol and we're going to start right now." I extended the pistol to her after turning on the safety and began to go through the proper stance. "Alright first things first, put your hands straight out in a diamond. Good. Center it on the target and close one eye after the other, whichever eye you can still see the target through is your dominant eye and you should shoot from that side."

"Ok, it's my right." She grabbed, "Sofie," and began to eye up the target.

"Alright first thing you want to do is put your strong side leg back like so." I gently grabbed her leg and moved it slightly back, so that they were about shoulder length apart.

"Watch yourself down there Nate." I looked upwards and gave a big grin. "You're enjoying this too much."

"Whatever are you implying?"

She sighed. "Just keep going."

"Yes ma'am. Alright now. You should have your knees bent slightly. Lean forward a bit but not too much. Make sure your right shoulder is lined up with the target. And finally, your right elbow should be pointed downwards towards the ground. Flick the safety off...and fire." Jack tried to cut in with what I'm sure was some pointers. "Hey, you got to teach me when I was a kid. Just let me have this moment, please?"

"Fine, she's your girlfriend. I'll let you teach her how to shoot. But if you screw up her posture I will fix it later." He pantomimed the correct posture. "A girl should know how to defend herself. Especially in a city like Detroit."

"Alright now Emma, when you pull the trigger make sure you gradually squeeze it. Pretend like you don't know the gun is going to shoot, that's the only way you won't jerk the thing to the side when you fire it. It's going to recoil a little bit but be firm and you'll do just fine ok? Go ahead whenever you're ready." A loud bang went through the room as the bullet flew towards the target, hitting it in the right leg. Pretty damn good. "Nice shooting Em, that your first time shooting a gun?" She nodded with a slightly surprised but not unpleasant expression on her face. "Well then, that's a great first shot. How'd it feel?"

"It was a little scary at first but once I got over the whole thing it was really fun actually." She grinned madly and now I was the one looking frightened. "I want to do it again."

"Well fire away then ma'am." I placed both hands to my mouth and imitated a loudspeaker. "Attention all, the range is hot and there is a crazy woman blasting away so back your asses up." The blue-eyed brunette gave me a scathing look. "Right, don't say anything bad about the woman with the gun."

"Good idea Nate."

The four of us fired away at the range downstairs for the next half-hour or so and Emma's progress was remarkable, definitely a natural. I covertly watched Dax too whenever he would grab a rifle and hammer the target. He tried to act very nonchalantly but from the way he handled the thing I could tell that back in the day he'd shot his fair share of pieces. The real fun started when Dad brought out the sniper rifle and began putting on a show.

He set up with his midnight black weapon in one of the center stalls and began to simulate firing. "Holy crap Jack where'd you get that?" I marveled over the glossy black weapon.

"This, is something I procured a couple years back as a gift to myself, a Black Widow. It's become my little pet project in my spare time. I call her Natasha, Tasha for short." I whistled appreciatively as he showed off the various upgrades he'd made. Optional thermal imaging. An armor-piercing upgrade. Even a concentration module designed with biometric sensors and auto-targeting software that adjust to the user's pulse and breathing rate, assisting aim.

Various targets began to pop out from random spots on the floor, walls and even the ceiling. A split-second after every object would pop out the loud report of a sniper rifle would crack and bang. The most remarkable thing was almost every single kill shot landed in the center of the head. After a few minutes the masterful performance came to an end and the grizzled veteran set down the sniper rifle, cracking his knuckles loudly. "God I've missed that." He downed a glass of water, wiped some sweat from his brow and sat down next to Emma, cracking a friendly grin that caused the sides of his eyes to crinkle. "What do you think Em?"

"That was amazing. Wolfy here," I cringed at the nickname and in response she simply nudged my elbow, "has been bragging since the start of Boot Camp about how good he is with a pistol but you've got him beat by a mile. No offence Wolfy."

"Please, for the love of all that is good in the world do not call me Wolfy…I'm begging you." I pretended to get down on hands and knees before remembering that she had just indirectly insulted my gunmanship. "Hey! I'll beat Jack in a marksmanship competition any day of the week. Just give me a rifle."

"Take your pick kid, assault rifles are over there." With that the ex-Marine waved his hand towards the wall, indicating where I should make my selection from. "You're gonna need this too." He tossed me an ammo block designed for an assault rifle and I walked over to peruse the selection. This is the best kind of shopping. Ever. My eyes settled on a very compact, rugged looking assault rifle. The stock, bottom portion of the handguard and grip were all a matte black while the rest was painted a practical grey.

"I like this one." I inserted the ammo block and stood in the stall to Jack's left, preparing to defend my honor.

"Wait don't you want to know what you're even shooting Nate?"

"It doesn't matter old man, I'll win throwing at the thing with a knife." I waited a few moments. Suddenly pictures of the shooting masterpiece he had just performed not five minutes earlier flashed through my mind and I thought better of it. "Well, I guess I can let you share your vast knowledge with me pops. I know how old people love to talk about the glory days." Giving the ex-Marine a wink, I settled in behind the rifle.

"Well then kid. That, is an M96 Mattock. Semi-automatic. A true oldie but a goodie. It's accurate as hell and can put down a charging krogan in just a few shots. Only drawback is that for an assault class rifle it's not useful at all in close range since it's only one shot per pull of the trigger. Precision is extremely important."

"Well, let's do this then." I looked over the rifle one last time and flipped off the safety. "Ready to lose old man?"

"Son, I've been doing this since before you were born." He rolled his neck and gave a quick grin before bringing his eye level with the scope.

"Well, age before beauty then. Tell Dax go whenever you're ready."

Deep breaths. I closed my eyes and visualized the targets appearing and my rifle snapping to them. "Go!"

I opened my eyes, shifted to the first mark and fired. Dax, who was recording hits and missed yelled out. "Point for Jack." Again, another target appeared. "Jack." Two shots rang out. "Ramsey. Jack. J." He sighed loudly. "Score is currently, Jack five, Wolf…zero."

I peered over my rifle. Something's got to be messed up with the sights on this, that's why I'm not hitting anything. No way is that geezer beating me in a match of straight reflexes. "How far you want this to go Nate?"

I practically growled. "Just push the button."

Another two shots echoed each other. "Point for Jack."

"Hit it."

"Point for Ramsey." How the hell is he beating me with a sniper rifle, the thing has a damn scope on it. What the shit.

"How much more of a beat down do you need Nate?"

"We'll go to ten points." I muttered. "You're up seven. I'm just getting warmed up though…or whatever it is people who are getting their asses kicked say." I mumbled the last bit.

He settled back in behind the scope again. "What was that last part?"

"Nothing worth repeating." I muttered inaudibly until I turned to look at Daxyrus. "Hit it again." This time, he's mine. Once again the loud noise of an M96 Mattock and a Black Widow filled the halls.

"Yeah, same result."

Jack looked at me. "Wolf have you ever heard the definition of insanity?"

"Just go again. Einstein never said that anyway."

The N7 simply shrugged. "Fine kid."

Once again I fell a split-second late, something was different this time however. "Damn N7's, with their shitty sniper rifles. I'm a Marine, there's no way in hell that the old man should be beating me in a motherfucking shooting competition. I mean come on, he's like a century old." I looked at my rifle. "This Mattock sucks. Couldn't hit a damn building from two feet away." I glared at the weapon as if I could make it spontaneously combust. "I'm grabbing a Lancer." Setting the weapon down, I walked away but not before giving it a final nasty look. "Coming back for you later…"

The Mattock did not talk back surprisingly. Jack did though. "Are you done yet Nate? I'm still waiting for your mighty comeback from nine points down."

"Yeah, sorry about that little tirade. That was childish." I ran my hand through my hair and smiled sheepishly. "Let's go. It's nine-nothing." I settled into my standard stance for assault rifles, holding the M7 aloft. I tried to get rid of all the frustration from getting totally destroyed and just focus on this next target. "Hit it."

The turian pushed the button and a target dropped in from the ceiling. I snapped up and fired a full-auto burst as the crack of, "Natasha," next to me sounded loudly in my ears. Silence surrounded me as I waited for Dax. "Huh, big surprise, Jack hit." I sighed loudly and dropped my head onto the stand in the stall. "Nate also hit."

I shouted loudly. "That means no shutout! I am on the board baby, ten-to-one but I'll take the moral victory."

Jack set down his weapon and walked over before giving me a little pat on the shoulder. "So, have you calmed down now?"

I just nodded lamely and hung my head. "Sorry about exploding like that in front of you guys, that was immature of me. I get too competitive sometimes about things I shouldn't."

"It's alright Nate, I've heard worse. I've had to work with Alliance personnel before and they don't have the cleanest language." Emma gave a friendly smile.

"Yeah, just let me know next time you're going to have a little outburst like that. I'd really like to record it for your CO to look at."

"Oh screw you Dax-" I looked at his face only to see he had what looked like the turian equivalent of a shit-eating grin. The sneaky bastard was baiting me. "Are you trying to egg me on?"

"What does food have to do with anything?"

I groaned loudly and Emma laughed. "It's a human idiom. It basically means you're trying to prod me into doing something just to get a big reaction."

"In that case yes. I am, 'egging you on.'" He smiled again. Sarcastic ass. "I do have an idea though." He paused his speech and walked to the rack of sniper rifles, searching for something. "Ah, here we go." He pulled a cobalt blue sniper rifle from the walls and I walked over to observe it. "This Wolf, is an M29 Incisor sniper rifle. It fires a three-round burst, plus I've extended the barrel on there, upgraded the heat sink capacity and also modified the scope."

"How so?" I moved in closer and looked at the mentioned modification.

"Well, I've actually downgraded the magnification on it for quicker target acquisition. Back in my military days I usually was one of the point men and a full 10 times zoom was completely impractical for use."

"You fought on the front-lines?" My curiosity attacked me from all sides. "What was it like? Who'd you fight?"

"Another time kid. Right now, your dad and I have something to settle." He fired off four quick three-round bursts. Damn he's fast. Why am I surrounded by people who can shoot better than me?

Jack raised an eyebrow in good humor. "So, we're doing this right now Lenril? Fine by me." The slightly graying man settled in behind his own sniper rifle. "You know what my nickname back in Special Forces was?" He answered his own question. "They called me Deadshot. Name of a villain in some old stories we humans told. He was known as the world's best assassin and the legends say that he never missed a target he set out to kill."

"Well, let's see if you live up to your namesake then huh?"

"Let's lay some ground rules down. First to five points wins and I'll push the button to release the targets from over here." I ran into the back and took a seat next to Emma who has swinging her feet, drink in hand. Clearly she was enjoying the show. "So, what do you think?"

"I don't know, your dad kind of kicked your ass in that competition."

"Hey!"

She gave a little shrug. "What? It's true."

"Yeah, he pretty much did. It's just the principle of the thing though, you know?" I conceded.

She simple nodded in response. "Dax does look pretty confident though. I wouldn't be too surprised if he pulled this out." The blue-eyed woman turned to look at me, tilting her head to the side questioningly. "What do you think?"

"I'm really not sure either. Be interested to see how they both do." I burrowed into Emma's side and put my head on her shoulder. The travel had started to catch up with me and now I was starting to feel the need for sleep. "You did really well today you know?" Looking up at her, I continued. "It'll make me feel a lot better knowing that you can kick some ass on your own too. Not that you couldn't before." I added hurriedly.

"Nice save. Almost convinced me on that one." She squinted and patted my head that was settled on her shoulder. "Although I do appreciate the compliment." There was a poignant pause as she clearly had something else on her mind. I remained silent, she'd share it when she was good and ready. In front of me Dax and Jack were going over every minute detail of their sniper rifle, clearly they wanted to make sure that everything was perfect for their competition.

Emma coughed loudly, drawing my attention away from the two gunmen. "Hey…Nate." She wants something. "What are you doing for these last four days before you go out for another six months?"

"Well, I wanted to spend as much time as I can with you, Dad and Dax obviously. I really want to make the most of these few days I'm in town."

"Mmhmm, that sounds really good."

"Emma? You know how you can read me when I'm lying about something."

She nodded. "You're really bad it."

"Going to ignore that." I thought of how to phrase the point I was trying to make. "Or I have something I'm thinking about when we're talking that I want to say but for some reason I'm not?"

"Yeah." She was still chewing her lip nervously.

"You're doing that right now. Whatever you want to say go ahead and say it, I'm a big boy. Well, most of the time."

"It's just…" She sighed in exasperation and ran a hand through her long brown hair. "I know we've only seen each other in person a few times now but we've been dating for three months and…I don't want to scare you or anything but…"

I took a large gulp of my drink. "Emma, please just tell me."

"I've been talking to my parents about you," my mind started to collapse in on itself at the word, "parents," "and all three of us want you to come over for dinner." She paused for breath. "What I'm saying is I'd like you to meet my parents."

The pop I was in the process of drinking flew out of my mouth. The eleven words had practically combined into two or three with how fast she had said that last sentence. I'm speechless. We had got along really well these last three months and I really liked Em a lot but this was a big step. A **really **big step. I'd never had any kind of relationship like this before. Still, the fact that she wanted me to meet her Mom and Dad was kind of flattering. I really don't know how to feel to be honest, I'm scared, nervous and excited all at the same time.

I tried to open my mouth but my words were not cooperating with me. Come on Wolf, you look like someone who got punched in the gut. My mind was screaming, "just say something," as I mentally slapped myself. "Hey kid! We're ready over here, push the button." I exhaled loudly as the weight lifted off my back. Probably the best timing for an interruption ever. Thanks to Jack I now have about two minutes to think things through.

"Go!" Four shots rang out. "Point Jack." Alright, what am I going to do? I've got three options. Door number one: I go. Have dinner, "Point Jack," impress the family…things are great. "Point Dax." Conclusion: Me and Emma are still going strong. "Point Dax." Door number two: I go. Things suck and her family hates me. "Point Dax, three to two in favor of Dax." My relationship with Emma is most likely trashed. "Point Jack." Conclusion: I go back to the Marines single, but having tried my best. "Point Jack." Door number three: I decline which obviously trashes things with Emma. "Point Dax, four all." I go back to the Marines single and feeling like a cowardly bitch. Well. I've only got one option then.

"Point Jack, Jack wins five-four. Good shooting you two, very impressive." I say absent-mindedly. Turning towards my striking companion, I swallowed loudly. "Emma…I would love to go and meet your parents. You just let me know what works for you and your family and I'll be there, dressed up and looking snazzy."

She practically yelped in joy and crushed me with a hug. "Nate, I'm so happy! Mom and Dad are going to love you! I'll get everything set up." She blazed out of the room, hugging Dad and Dax. The latter's reaction would have normally made me laugh at the awkwardness but I was a bit too stunned to do anything.

The two walked over to where I was still sitting in stunned silence. "Hey kid. What's up with Emma?" He pointed to the now absent spot that she had occupied a second earlier. "She seems even bouncier than usual."

I turned to my adopted father with an utterly scrambled expression on my face. "I'm having dinner with her parents this week." The two of them just looked at each other for a few moments and then burst out laughing.

Jack patted me on the back in a rough but friendly manner. "Kid, you look like somebody just told you your dog died."

Dax just kept laughing.

**A/N: Poor Wolf, he can handle fake firefights and getting into random brawls but the idea of dinner with the girlfriend's parents scares the crap out of him. Also, the story's kind of late compared to my usual posting time but hey, it's still Tuesday so there's that. Had a long day at work today so I got this up as quick as possible after a quick look through to make sure everything's looking good.**

**Also, I'm going to be re-writing the first half-dozen or so chapters over the next week or so. Nothing's really changing plot-wise, the edits will basically just be making the dialogue flow a bit better. Since it's literally the first thing people read when they click on my story I want it to be a good first impression and I think I can do a better job than how it is now.**

**Ranger Station Charlie is still my extremely-appreciated Beta.**

**RSC: Yup, things will definitely pick up in terms of timeline advancement over the next few chapters. Vanguard training will be summed up in two or three chapters and after that there'll be some interaction with his new comrades in arms. Then the real fun will start ;)**

**P.S. I'm still working on that timeline, it's just been slow going so far. Probably going to have the rough draft done and over to you by this weekend.**

**Unity9: I gotcha. Was in the same boat with Finals a week back and didn't have much time so I can definitely understand where you're coming from with that. Definitely looking forward to your next chapter though and if you need some help getting over the block feel free to send me a PM., even if it's just bouncing ideas back and forth. I had a bad case a little while ago and thankfully RSC helped me out with some ideas over message so I can say from experience that it definitely helped in my case.**


	17. Meet the Parents

I stood apprehensively in the hallway of the multiple purpose building that was Jack's Armory. "I am scared shitless right now. Can't we just go back a couple weeks and simulate that Shanxi escape again." I talked to my reflection in the mirror as I adjusted my collar. Out of curiosity I mentioned the Shanxi sim to Jack and he said they actually changed it a bit. The man and woman that were with him and Speirs were out cold for almost all of the escape so they were dragging two unconscious N7's for several miles in addition to fighting off waves of turians. No big deal.

"Jack! Come here quick I need help!" The sound of the former Special Forces agent dashing from the store counter, through the back room and up the stairs could be heard. The door shook on its frame as he busted into my room. Holy crap Jack is still fast as hell. Plus he's able to break my door down…and he can definitely still shoot. What kind of training do N7's go through that he can still kick ass well into his forties.

"What the hell is going on? I thought you were getting murdered or something with the way you were screaming."

"Something is seriouslywrong Jack. Emma's going to be here in five minutes to pick me up and take me back to her place for dinner with the parents. I need to know if I look ok."

He just shook his head and muttered as he left the room. "Damn kid. Goes to boot camp for three months he comes back and still can't button his shirt without help."

I pleaded. "Jack come back. Just tell me if everything looks fine…please?" He just waved me off with the back of his hand and continued walking away to the sound of unintelligible grumbling. Fine, don't need his help anyway. I messed with my cuffs. Made sure there were no creases in my pants. And the finishing touch, put on some cologne. Inside I was still freaking out though. I paced back and forth nervously in my room, practically putting a lane in the floor as I took the same steps over and over again.

Just treat it like training. It's just another challenge to get through. Motivate yourself and you'll do just fine Wolf. Wow, am I that stressed? I'm literally having a conversation with myself to try and calm down. Alright, let's just sit down on the bed and meditate. As I surrounded myself with cushy pillows and covers I began to focus on my biotic aura. Surrounding myself with a purple-blue barrier, I guided all my feelings solely into maintaining my defenses. Finally, the tension flowed away. I felt a little apprehensive still but ready for whatever the night brings.

"Nate? It's probably not the best idea to practice your biotics indoors."

I turned from my sitting position towards the door where Emma was standing in a pretty orange dress. Grinning guiltily, I tried to just roll right past. "Wow, you look great Emma. The dress really brings out your…eyes." She crossed her arms, clearly not willing to let this go. Huh, the compliment distraction usually works. "I was just practicing my biotic shield. It's no big deal."

"You can do what you want. I know you don't have the best control yet though. Don't you think it's probably a good idea to keep it to the range?"

"Hey it's fine. I've got it under control."

"Nate, please." She moved over onto the bed and sat down next to me. "At least just promise me you won't use them in public ok? People still don't understand biotics. They still think that biotics have magical powers like reading minds and other primitive fears. When people are scared they react unpredictably. And I think you have enough enemies in Detroit, don't you?"

"You're probably right." I then tried to lighten her fears with some humor. "But who says I can't read minds?" Leaning in close I blew a little gust of wind at her hair.

Exasperatedly, she tucked the curls behind her ear. "Just please keep the biotic displays away from civilians."

"I promise on one condition." I feel like I'm making a lot of promises lately. "The agreement becomes null and void if I feel like you're in danger."

"That works." Her face lightened up. "Now let's go eat."

Shit, is it too late to back out?

**LINE BREAK**

"So, Nathan. Tell me a little about yourself. What did you do before becoming a Marine?" I choked on the steak that was I currently chewing on and raised my hand while offering an apologetic look. I had just sat down with Evan and Kimberley Perri at the dinner table and we had begun to eat. Evan was a tall man in his early fifties and to explain it simply, he looked like a doctor. A thick brown head of hair swept back stylishly from his forehead with just a tinge of grey that could be seen at the temples. Ever since I had walked in, the man had been nothing but friendly and hospitable. A dazzling white smile and warm laugh told of a bedside manner that would put any patient at ease.

Mrs. Perri was another story. She wanted Emma to be with someone a bit more…respectable, I gathered, which I could definitely understand. Honestly, I had no business being anywhere near this part of town. It's not that she was rude or anything of that nature, just firm. With curly black hair that rolled in waves down to her shoulders and a strong, high-cheekboned face she instantly looked like someone I would need to toe the line around.

My first plan of attack was to win her over. If the Mom likes you the battle is practically won. And right now the piece of meat that was lodged in my throat was stabbing me in the back. Trying to salvage the situation, I spit the food into a nearby napkin that I brought up to my mouth as discreetly as possible. Smooth Wolf, real smooth.

"I'm so sorry ma'am, could you repeat that." In an unexpected side bonus, boot camp had taught me to use, "sir's," and, "ma'am's," adults love that shit.

"Of course Nathan. I was asking what you did before joining the military."

Right. Time to work my half-truth magic. I looked to Emma for support and she nodded her head no as if she was reading my mind. What does that mean? At that moment my omni-tool buzzed and I imperceptibly opened up a message from Emma, simply titled. "_Tell the truth._" Fine then, here goes.

"Well, if you want to go way back, my mom was killed in a break-in gone wrong when I was six…"

**Flashback to thirteen years ago at Wolfert dwelling.**

"-goodnight stars, goodnight air, goodnight noises everywhere." Katrina Wolfert closed the nursery book she was reading to her only child. Ruffling the boy's brown hair affectionately she brought the cover up to his neck, tucking him in for the night. "Goodnight my little Wolf."

"Can you read it again? I'm still not tired." The stubborn youth grabbed his canine stuffed animal and looked at his youthful mother with a dejected expression on his face.

Electing not to answer yet, the raven-haired female gave a mirthful chuckle. "It's past your bedtime sweetie but I promise, the sooner you go to sleep, the sooner you wake up. And you know what tomorrow is?" He shook his head no. "Tomorrow, we're going to the zoo. And they've got all kinds of animals there. Tigers, bears, lions,-"

"Wolves?" The previously saddened look of the boy was now replaced with an expression of hope.

"Yes, your friend can go back to see his family tomorrow."

The kid gave a shout of joy and rolled over, hugging "Fang" close to his chest and snuggling in for the night. "I love you Mommy."

"I love you too son." Katrina leaned in and kissed the warm forehead of the lad. She reached over and turned off the light, still sitting with the youngster and rubbing his back tenderly until the loud crash of a window breaking jolted the two occupants of the bed wide awake. "Listen to me Nathan. You need to get under the bed ok?"

"I'm scared Mom."

"Everything's going to be ok." She stroked the boy's cheek and gave a smile. The only giveaway of how frightened she truly was being a slight quiver at the corners of her mouth. "Keep Fang with you, he'll protect you from the bad guys."

Tears of fear filling his eyes as he nodded. The diminutive frame of the boy quickly disappeared under the elevated bed. With a determined stride, Katrina ran into the other room and grabbed her omni-tool attachment from a nightstand. Quickly, she dialed the emergency number for the police while the volume of noises in the living room steadily increased. They were inside.

"Come on, pick up." She frantically cried.

"Emergency services how can I help you?"

"Yes, someone is inside my house. Please, send police as soon as possible, I have my son here with me."

There was a pause that seemed like an eternity before a calming voice answered from the other end. "Yes ma'am. We've keyed into your location and I've alerted the local authorities. Stay hidden until help arrives."

"Understo-"

A loud male voice cut off the woman as a burly man in a ski mask entered the room. "Get down now! Where are your valuables?"

"I, I," Katrina had begun to hyperventilate by this point, "there's nothing valuable here. Please, I need to feed my son. We don't have anything."

The burly burglar pulled out a handgun. "Spare me the fucking sob story! This is Detroit, you do what you have to just to survive. So I'll ask again, where are the valuables?" The man cocked back the pistol he was holding for added effect and his finger slipped down to the trigger as the woman cringed. His voice lowered to a deadly whisper. "Lady, I'm going to give you one more chance. I don't want to shoot you but I will if I have to. You have three seconds. Three. Two. One!"

A loud crash from the other room startled the man, his index finger unintentionally tightened and a second noise filled the tiny living space. The burglar recoiled as a flow of blood came from the woman's chest. "Oh, oh shit." As the man ran out of the room panicking, a six-year old child who had seen the entire thing was roughly shoved to the ground.

She began to cry as she saw her child. "Nathan, come here son." The woman opened her arms from her position on the floor and the young boy who had also begun to cry nuzzled into her arms, uncaring about the blood that now stained him as well.

"Mommy, what happened?"

Katrina reassured the boy with empty words. "Shhh, it's going to be ok. The police are on the way and they're taking mommy to a place where they'll make her better. Just sit here with me ok?"

"Yes mom."

Mother and son sat together in silence, waiting for the police to arrive. Minute after minute passed and still no response. The breathing of the woman increasingly became more ragged, each and every moment becoming a struggle, eventually stopping altogether. Only the youth still drew breath.

**Flashback over, resume present time at Perri house:**

I looked up after telling my story. Expressions of sympathy were transparent on the faces of all the Perri family. Emma grabbed my hand under the table. "I'm so sorry Nate. I didn't know the extent of what happened." She gave me a reassuring squeeze. "You've just been keeping that inside all this time?"

"Yeah Jack's the only one who knows the whole story. I figured since he took me in he deserved to know. I don't tell the whole story often."

Evan Perri looked at me sorrowfully. "That's terrible Nathan. How did you survive after that?"

"Well, I was in and out of foster homes all through my childhood. Some of them were nice, some not-so-nice but usually I just wandered the streets. I was a junior member of the Tenth Street Reds, for a long time. I did little jobs for them and they gave me food. Nobody suspects a ten year old kid of too much so I got away with things pretty easily. Did that up until I was about thirteen. That's when I ran into Jack Ramsey and he took me under his wing. The guy caught me red-handed one day trying to steal guns from his store. Since then he's been my unofficial dad."

I took a deep breath and continued with the story. "Just over three months ago the Reds were going to make me a full member of the gang. They gave me this." I lifted my shirt and showed off the ugly mark at which Mrs. Perri gasped. "Then they wanted me to kill a random turian to prove I was dedicated."

"What'd you do?" The doctor quizzed me.

"I shot the two Reds in the leg and escaped. After that I joined the Alliance since Jack was a former Marine and me and Emma at the recruitment center. Three months of boot camp later and here I am." I smiled at finishing my story. It felt good to get that off my chest. "I don't know if it's really possible but I just want to leave everything that happened behind me and I think this is my best chance. I won't ever forget what happened but I can learn from it and change the decisions I make going forward."

Mrs. Perri smiled. "Well that's a very admirable attitude to have Nathan. I'm sure if you need anything that, Jack was it?" I nodded. "Can't aid you with then all three of us would be willing to help out." She looked at the other two occupants of the room pointedly and they nodded in response.

I thanked the woman cheerfully. "Well I definitely appreciate that offer ma'am. But now that I've told my lifestory why don't we move to a more cheerful subject? Emma told me you're a doctor Mr. Perri, do you work here in Detroit?"

"I actually freelance a little bit if you want to call it that. I specialize in artificial body parts of all shapes, sizes and locations so they call me in on the rough ones. The Alliance especially requests me on jobs since, I don't want to brag but, my humble talents are very highly regarded by others in the community. As you could imagine they require my services quite often so being tied down to a particular hospital would limit the help I'm capable of providing."

My attention was drawn instantly in a morbid curiosity. "Really? You work with prosthetics? What's that like?"

"It's great, I do it all. Arms, legs, eyes. You name it and I've replaced it." He leaned back into his chair. "I just want to help others get back to normalcy of life."

Kimberley groaned audibly. "Evan please, no stories. Not at the dinner table at least."

"It'll be fine honey. I won't go into detail." Evan waved her off.

**LINE BREAK**

"So, there I was. Alliance personnel screaming at me and I've got to put a new eye on this unconscious officer but I can't." The doctor was leaned out over the table from his seated position, gesticulating wildly as he told the story. I was likewise entranced by the man's story in a rather grotesque fashion. Emma and Mrs. Perri were practically green with nausea by this point. I don't know why they didn't just leave the room if this kind of stuff bothered them that much. It almost looked like their dinner was about to make a reappearance. "The guy's unconscious right? The only problem is his damaged eye keeps twitching. Every time I try to do some repairs, blink. I step back and then try again, blink."

I had started laughing by that point, to the disgust of the two females and joy of the male in the room. "So what did you end up doing then? Obviously you can't really put an eye in there if the thing keeps closing."

"Well, you remember those Alliance personnel that were screaming at me?" I gave a nod of assent. "I made those two hold his eyelids open while I went through the entire process of putting in the artificial eye."

"Bet that taught them."

"Yeah, they definitely stopped yelling at me while I performed the operation. So in that sense it worked out great that the guy couldn't stop his eyes from closing." The man leaned back into his chair and gave a contented sigh. "That was an excellent dinner Kimberley. Thank you."

"Yeah thanks Mrs. Perri, it was great. Especially after living off MRE's and Marine cafeteria food for the last few months. It's great to have a home cooked meal again."

"You're very welcome Nathan." She got up from her seated position and began to tidy up the table. "We're all so glad that you could join us. Emma's told us so much about you and it's nice to finally get to meet you in person. Evan and I would love to have you over, any time you have leave you just let us know. You're always welcome here."

Wow, what a relief. I don't know what I did but somehow I impressed Emma's parents. "That's very kind of you. To be honest I was really nervous before I came over. I've never exactly done something like this before but tonight was really nice."

"Why don't you stay for a while," Evan checked his omni-tool, "it's still only nine. The night is still young." I gave a non-committal grunt due to the fact that Emma was across the table giving what looked to be an, "eject," signal. "Come on, I'm sure you have some interesting stories you could regale us with, as long as it doesn't make the missus here too squeamish." He gave the woman a playful poke.

"Ok, well I could tell you about our first date-"

Emma cut in before I could go any further. "No, I think Nate needs to get home. His Dad said something about needing his help with things tonight at the shop."

"What, I don't remember that."

"He **said** he needed your help with something."

If looks could kill, I would have been six feet under in the cold ground and Jack would have given a eulogy already. I decided to take the hint to leave before things imploded. "Ohhh, right. That thing. I completely forgot about that thanks for reminding me. I really should get going." I gave Evan and Kimberley a handshake and hug respectively, before Emma hurried me out the door. "Bye Perri family. Thanks for having me tonight. It was great!"

"Bye Dad. Bye Mom. I'm going to walk Nate home then I'll be back."

The two of us left the house and as soon as the door closed Emma crushed me in a hug. "You didn't screw everything up! I can't believe it."

"I know right? That went surprisingly smoothly don't you think?"

My companion looked at me thoughtfully. "Yeah that definitely could have gone much, much worse. They actually seemed to like you. Well like might be too strong a word. Tolerate is probably a more apt description."

"Ouch, that hurts." I chuckled at the insult. "I'll take tolerate over hating my guts though." We walked the last few minutes to Jack's place. "It's probably for the best that I didn't tell the story about the fight we got into with the Reds now that I think about. That might be pushing it for one night."

"I think Dad would've been okay, might've even laughed about it. Mom on the other hand…" She trailed off, letting the disastrous consequences simply be implied. "We should ease them into it. They took your whole, 'shady past,' thing pretty well actually all things considered so I think that's good for one night."

We arrived at the Ramsey establishment and paused at the doorway. "I was scared at first but I'll admit, this was a really good idea Emma. It was great meeting your family and spending some time getting to know them. This is…" I faltered in my speech and she drew closer, putting a comforting hand on my shoulder. "I've never really had dinner like that before, just two parents and their kid sitting around a table chatting. I don't really like to dwell on what happened in the past. It's done with and there's nothing I can do about it anymore but tonight was different. Being with your family, it just made me think about all that could have been different."

"Hey come here." She pulled me into a hug. "You've got people all around you who love you. Jack, Dax," I gave her a quizzical look after she mentioned the turian, "trust me. He only gives you crap because he likes you. Alien or not, I know the type. Mitch, Jimmy and Ben would do anything to help you out in a pinch. And I think you're pretty ok."

"Well, I think you're pretty ok too." Holy crap that was cheesy, well nothing I can do now.

The brunette gave a playful little push. "Just ok?"

I put my hands around her waist and drew her in closer. "How about, 'good,' is that acceptable?" As I looked into her sparkling cerulean eyes, I closed my own and moved forward. Please God no slap to the face. Slowly inching forward, my mouth gently crashed into her own ruby lips. Almost instantly, I felt lightheaded, dizzy and generally absentminded as I lost myself in the kiss. I don't know how long it lasted but it seemed like an eternity. Unfortunately, a loud cough interrupted us and I turned to see the amused looking face of our local turian. Why does the world conspire against me?

I felt my face flush and I'm pretty sure Emma's face did the same as our compromising position had been discovered. The turian version of a smirk crossed his face as he spoke. "I'm sorry but the Armory is closed for the night. We do open at seven tomorrow though so please come back then." He feigned a shocked expression as I stepped into the building. "Wolf! I couldn't see you in that light out there, your face was blocked for the most part."

"Hi Dax." I mumbled. "I was just talking to Emma here and telling her good night."

"Oh, is that what you humans call it?" He walked back upstairs to the actual living quarters in the structure, muttering something about humans and their tendencies to smash their faces into each other needlessly. "Good night Wolf. Good night Emma. Don't have too much fun."

Again, I reddened madly at the implications. "Sorry. He doesn't know when to stop sometimes."

"I don't mind." Emma was actually giggling. "He's like a crotchety old man yelling at kids to get off his lawn."

I laughed loudly at the thought of Dax sitting out on a porch yelling at some punk teenagers to get the hell out. "That I would pay to see. Well, I should probably let you get home. Don't want your parents to get the wrong idea."

"Oh," the Alliance nurse feigned innocence, "what idea would that be?"

"I am not even gonna go there."

**LINE BREAK**

"I can't believe it's already time to leave." I was sitting at the recruiting center waiting for the shuttle to take me to the "Ascension Project," which was located in a brand new Alliance space station called Jon Grissom Academy. The station was actually orbiting Elysium which was interesting considering that it had just been attacked by slavers recently before being repelled by Lieutenant Shepard nearly single-handedly. "These ten days have flown by."

I sat down on a bench with Dad, Dax and Emma, the four of us just kicking back and relaxing for the last few minutes before I left for another six months of training. "It'll go fast kid. Trust me. After that you'll be shipped out and who knows what's going to happen."

"Still." I sighed loudly as I looked skyward. "I just wish I had some more time with all of you before I have to go back. I've never stepped foot outside Detroit before in my life and now it's going to be practically nine straight months out of town."

The turian spoke up from his tranquil position. "Well just imagine how much control you'll have over your biotics by the end of that time. In just three months you're already throwing warps. Who knows what can happen with double that time."

"Yeah, I guess that'll be nice."

"What does it feel like? Using biotics I mean." The diminutive brunette turned towards me from our seated position. "Ever since you got that positive test, I've always wondered what it'd be like to have crazy mind powers like that."

"It's like feeling a thousand pin pricks that flow from your brain straight out towards your arm. There's a big build up and then a release." The three of us looked at the turian curiously. He coughed loudly. "Well. That's what I've heard at least. I worked with the Cabals in the turian military so I asked them about it of course."

"Right, anyway. For me it feels like a," I paused, searching for the right way to describe it. It's kind of like describing color to a blind person. Or relating what a flavor tastes like. It's practically impossible. It just is the way it is. "Imagine a fire inside your head. It doesn't hurt but just tingles, kind of like the pin pricks Dax was describing. If I really focus, the inferno builds up. Then I just imagine it flowing through my body and doing whatever it is I want to do."

"Well, that's very interesting. I can't say I've heard it described that way before." I looked up to see a handsome-looking man in his mid-twenties wearing a crisp business suit. His almost midnight black hair and strong features spoke of at least partial Asian descent. He gave a warm, toothy smile as he extended his hand out which I quickly stood up and grasped, shaking it heartily. "My name's Dr. Jiro Toshiwa. I work with the Alliance. I'm here to take you to the Jon Grissom Academy."

"Nathaniel Wolfert sir. Ready to go whenever we need to." I saluted the man.

"At ease Nathan…I'm not officially with the military. I just work with them in my spare time to help out with students who have biotic potential, whether or not they're Navy personnel."

"Understood sir."

The doctor just laughed. "Nathan please, just call me Jiro. I'm only a few years older than you, and I'm sure there'll be plenty of Marine instructors to yell at you once we get there. There's no need to start with the regulations right now. That work for you?"

"I think I can handle that…Jiro." Those instructors in boot camp really the titles into my head, what can I say.

"Good. We've got a whole shuttle trip ahead of us and I'd like to be on friendly terms if possible." He turned towards the bus that was taking us to the shuttle. "Hey, I'm going to go ahead and get on the airbus. Take your time saying goodbye to your family. Once you're done, join me and we'll get going."

I think I'm going to like this guy. Seems pretty relaxed. It's a nice difference from the usual Alliance personnel. "Thanks Jiro I'll be right there." I walked up to Dax who had his taloned hand extended. He had learned to adopt the human handshake in the three months with Jack. Instead of returning the gesture though, I pulled the stunned turian into a hug. "I'll miss you Dax. I'm glad you stuck around."

"Don't get sentimental on me Wolfy. Who else is going to give you a hard time when you screw something up?"

Giving a huge grin, I fired back. "Maybe I should have just left you to the Reds."

"Low blow Wolf. Low blow." He returned the grin that was on my own face. "Good luck."

I then walked over to Jack who engulfed me with his massive frame. "Stay safe Nate."

"I will. I promise."

"Use those biotics of yours and make us proud." The former Marine nodded as he smiled.

"I'll do my best."

Finally, I walked over to Emma who simply pulled me down to her level and kissed me right on the lips. "Call me whenever you get a chance ok? I understand things will be hectic but just try, please."

"I will. Every chance I get."

"Good. Just get back here as soon as you can. And I have a little something for you too." She opened up her omni-tool and typed for a few seconds and a ding sounded from my own device. "Just something to remember me by."

As I looked at the gadget a picture of Emma in the outfit she had worn on our first date, a dark green dress, necklace and silver earrings, appeared. I smiled before leaning down and giving her a final peck on the mouth before leaving. "You look absolutely beautiful. I'm going to look at it every day when I wake up and before I go to sleep."

"You'd better." The brunette winked at me as I walked away. As I hopped onto the vehicle, I gave a final wave as the doors closed. We lifted off the ground, I took a seat next to Dr. Toshiwa and settled in for the long trip ahead of us.

**A/N: And for the record, Jiro Toshiwa is a canon character I found out about while doing some research so who knows what's going to happen with that. Maybe something, maybe nothing, we'll just have to find out ;)**

**I've rewritten the first chapter and posted the changes but I'm still working through it. As soon as I have more chapters done you guys will be the first to know.**

**Thanks to Ranger Station Charlie for all the help.**

**RSC: I couldn't find the production dates on any weapons in ME2/3 so I decided to stretch things a little bit since the ME2 description said it was a, "newer," weapon and that's about a nine-year difference going from '76 to '85.**

**Dax and Wolf are kind of like those people you see who insult each other all the time but are still friends. I've got a good buddy like that and we do the same thing. We usually have to explain to people afterwards that we're not really angry with each other or anything, it's just how we relate.**

**Yeah, one of Wolf's major tendencies is to deflect things with humor. I really like the Spider-Man comparison because I feel like that's pretty accurate but in terms of my writing the story I'm still trying to find that balance between him coping but not going overboard with the quips. It's kind of tough sometimes.**


	18. The Guy Who Quizzed Me

"So. How long have you known about your biotics?" Dr. Toshiwa and I had been making small talk as the two of us headed towards the Alliance space station.

"It was just a couple months ago in the scans I took before going to boot. Before that I had no idea."

The man began to take notes on his omni-tool as we chatted. "Interesting. And you've already been able to generate warps and barriers according to my report here from uh," he cocked his head sideways and read the name, "Lieutenant Kerry Dixon."

"Yeah he was our biotic instructor. Good guy, taught me what little I know about biotics."

"And how long did it take you to start generating mass effect fields?"

"Just over a month I think. First thing I generated was a warp too in case you were wondering." If I was going to be interrogated I might as well speed up the process.

"You know it usually takes months to learn how to generate even the mildest attacks." The black haired doctor looked over what was apparently my military profile. "Well you are a tier four so I guess that explains it. Only the top twenty percent hit a four on the bio scale. And you've never had any previous inklings of your latent abilities?"

"Depends. I kinda forgot what latent means."

Jiro laughed warmly. "My apologies. Whenever I start to talk about biotics I naturally resort to, 'doctor talk.' Latent basically just means hidden, or dormant, something along those lines."

"Ahhh." The light had gone off in my head. "Then no. No previous indications whatsoever."

Once again he opened his omni-tool and wrote something down. "You my friend are an unusual case. Most biotics have had some indicator by the time they hit nineteen that something is not entirely normal. How long can you sustain fairly steady attacks for without mental breakdown?"

I thought back to boot camp for a reference point. "If I had to guess." I tapped my chin. "About fifteen to twenty minutes. I'd be practically dead afterwards though so I'd be useless in a fight."

"Well you can expect that for a year or so, don't worry. The more you practice the easier it gets so keep at it." He jotted down another note. "It's just like working out."

"Yeah except I'm only using my brain."

He simply nodded in agreement. "That's true. You just wait. You'll be a powerhouse soon in close quarters. Especially with this new vanguard training from the academy. I've heard the instructor there is a real hard ass but you make it through and keep working then you'll be a real asset to us."

"I sure hope so. It'd be a real shame to go through all this training and then be useless to everyone."

"Yes it would." He kept browsing my file. Shit, just how big is this thing? I wonder just how much they know about my, "past." "Impressive. Says here you made expert with pistols during qualifying."

I shrugged in a rare display of modesty. It helps when you're being taught by an N7. "You know that guy that was there saying goodbye? The non-turian one?" The Asian man nodded. "Well, that's Jack Ramsey."

"No shit?" Jiro swore loudly. "You mean one of the two surviving members of the famous Baker's Dozen? You should have told me before we left I would have loved to get a picture with a legend like that." He made another note for some reason. "You know he completely dropped off the grid a little while after he was discharged. What's he been up to?"

"He runs a little weapons and armor shop here in Detroit. Between that and raising a punk kid like me he stays pretty busy."

He eyes crinkled in good humor. "So you ended up being raised by one of the best soldiers the Alliance has ever seen. You're one lucky bastard you know that?"

"Things definitely could have been much worse that's for sure."

"I'm assuming he's the one who taught you how to shoot then?"

"Sure did. I ran into him, so to speak, in my teens and we hit it off. Taught me how to fight and shoot, had plenty of practice since then too."

"Well, that would explain the expert grade then. I've heard he used to be one of the best shots with a sniper rifle on either side of the fight."

I leaned back into my seat, remembering the ass beating I had received just a few days ago in a marksmanship competition. "Still is. Beat the crap out of me in a straight up target shooting competition just this week. I even used an assault rifle too."

"Wow, that's surprising." Another memo jotted down.

"Yeah I was feeling pretty good too going into it. Definitely took me down a peg or two." Man, I'm getting down just thinking about it. A loud yawn shook me out of my musings. "Well Jiro, it's been real but I am going to sleep. Wake me up before we hit Jon Grissom alright?"

"Will do. Get some rest Nathan."

**LINE BREAK**

It seemed like minutes but it must have been hours later when I woke up from the peaceful nap I had settled into. Groggily, I blinked the sleep out of my eyes. "Yeah the notes are on the way. Yes sir I was thinking the same thing. They do look promising, especially with the background taken into account too. Of course. I'll be in touch."

Rolling over, I looked at my companion who was just ending his phone call. "Who was that doc?"

"Oh. That was one of the big bosses over at Grissom Academy." Huh, he looks…flustered. "They just had some last-minute questions about you. They were **real **curious, like what they see so in you so far. Keep it up buddy."

"That's good to know. At least I made a good first impression." Well, if that's true then that's awesome. Something seems off though, Jiro was acting a little strange. "Now I've just got to keep it up for the next six months which I'm sure will be no problem whatsoever. Especially with a tough guy drill instructor who probably wants nothing better than to rip me from limb to limb, verbally of course." Jiro gave a hesitant look and winced a little. "Physically?"

"I told you he's a bit rough. In his defense he definitely knows his way around the battlefield and will be teaching you basically anything you want to know. It's not all bad though, there's some good people there too." He paused for a moment. "Well I'll be there at least. That's something right?"

"Better than nothing." I smiled at the doctor. "Kidding, kidding, I'm glad to have somebody I can shoot the shit with at least every once in a while."

**LINE BREAK**

"So doc. Question for you."

"Fire away private."

Oh yeah I almost forgot. Ever since I completed boot camp I was now a Private Second Class in the Alliance Marines and training was…going. Three whole months had passed since I'd entered the specialized vanguard training at Jon Grissom Academy. I actually managed to keep in touch with not only Emma and Dad, but also Mitch, Big Ben and Jimmy who were all doing great from the sounds of things.

But back to training. The instructor was most certainly a hard ass and did not put up with any shit from his students. My entire body was battered and bruised practically twenty-four seven from the tiring regiment he put us through. I did learn though. My biotic attacks were increasing in power exponentially and I had a new favorite weapon, the M22 Eviscerator. I had never fired a shotgun in my life but as soon as I got my hands on the thing it just worked with me beautifully.

"There are two things that are signature to any vanguard." The instructor explained while I was in the middle of my punishment. If any of us screwed something up we would be forced to go, "full barriers," and hold it for twenty minutes. "The first is the biotic charge and the second is the shotgun. Any vanguard worth his salt will master those two things and use them to destroy the enemy in close quarters combat."

I was extremely grateful for the punishment though as it led to the question for the doctor that I was currently having lunch with. We ate together quite frequently and chatted about everything from girls to biotic theory. I even told him about life in Detroit before this which he took completely in stride. Usually my backstory gets a fairly large reaction from the average person. "So when I'm creating a barrier. As long as I have the mental strength to keep it erect, nothing's getting through right?"

"As long as you've got the biotic capabilities to keep it up yeah." The doctor took a bite of his food as he spoke.

"Well I've been thinking a little bit about the actual capabilities and new techniques." I leaned back and thought about how I was going to explain my thoughts. "What if, I could extend that outwards from my body? It's not just limited to me correct? Hypothetically, I could put a barricade on others around me right? I mean I can put people in stasis, why not erect a barrier around them during combat?"

"Interesting." Jiro tapped his chin in thought. "I suppose you could but the strain would be extreme. It would drain you extremely quickly and it would take all your focus. But yes," he took another bite, "in an extreme situation I think you could protect someone else with a barrier."

"That's kind of what I was thinking. Maybe if I took cover or something and really just focused on the barrier it would work in a pinch." Now onto the more extreme scenario. "What about a solid wall of biotics though?"

The doctor stopped eating and leaned back in the seat, taking a long pause. "I haven't really thought about that too much to be honest. But once again, I think that a strong enough biotic could erect a solid wall of energy. The drain would be enormous of course, if putting a barrier on someone would be about a seven or so on difficulty scale, this would be a solid nine. You might even blow out the amp if you kept it up long enough."

"Think about how useful it would be though. Like when breaching a room for instance. Usually your team would get absolutely shredded but if a biotic could give them just a couple seconds to get to cover it would change everything." I was getting excited just thinking about testing it out now. "You could even use it like a battering ram of sorts when advancing."

Jiro gave a slight smile at my exuberance. "Well you'll have to let me know the results then. The Alliance is still figuring out the possibilities that biotics give to us so if you make some kind of break through just yell for me alright?"

"Will do doc."

The holographic displays set all around the room blared to life as a report from the Alliance News Network started. A man sitting behind a desk started talking in a melancholy tone of voice. "We've received some unfortunate news today of a disaster on the planet of Akuze. Marines investigating what was apparently a distress beacon, according to sources we've been in contact with, were attacked by an unknown species of massive worm-like creatures. We have a short clip we're going to play of a Marine's video feed right now. The video is disturbing so viewer discretion is highly advised."

The feed cut to the perspective of a Marine from his helmet cam as him and his squad ran from monstrous creatures that looked to be stretching almost a hundred feet into the air. I turned to the Asian doctor. "Jiro…what **are** those things?"

"I don't know Wolf. I've never even heard of something like them."

Green acid spewed from the mouths of the creatures as they moved like giant snakes around the dusty fields which had now turned into an area of slaughter. The giant creatures would disappear from view underground only to reappear elsewhere, spreading death everywhere they went. Marines vanished from view into craters, were hit by acid and even swallowed whole by the vile monsters. I started to gag at the ghastly display of death that was on the screen and Dr. Toshiwa was practically green with nausea by this point. Lives were snuffed out one after the other to the sound of loud cursing that was bleeped out by the news network. After a few more seconds of the Marine's running, a loud rumble was heard and a giant worm appeared merely feet from the man. A loud yell and then static from the camera. The feed cut and went back to the reporter. "So far the Alliance has not found any survivors yet but they still hold out hope that not all is lost. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the affected families and hopefully things are not as dark as they appear to be."

The report ended and the display went back to darkness. Silence reigned in the Alliance cafeteria. I turned towards Jiro and we just looked at each other for a few seconds that felt like an eternity before I spoke up. "What the fuck…"

**LINE BREAK**

I checked over all my weapons, making sure that each and every one was ready to go. Lancer, check. Eviscerator, check. Phalanx, check. That was one of the best parts about the program, since I was now technically considered an elite part of the Alliance Military I was able to take my pick of what weapons I wanted to use. After that I pulled on the flexible under suit for my medium Onyx armor. They had given me the option of wearing heavy armor but I tried the thing on and it was bulky as hell. I'll trade away a little bit of extra protection for feeling comfortable and flexible in the armor I'm in any day.

Piece by piece the armor attached itself to the material underneath until finally I put on the chest piece which was always the most annoying part because of the seals right on your back that were an absolute bitch to reach. A loud laugh sounded from the other side of the locker room I was in. "You look like you're struggling there Wolf."

"Yeah no shit." I grunted as I tried to reach the locks. "You going to help Jiro? Or just stand there and chuckle to yourself?"

"I think I'll do the second one." His actions betrayed his words however as he took a few steps towards me and quickly finished the process of sealing in the armor. With that finished I slid the knife I now carried to a sheath strapped around my left shoulder, completing my preparation process. The omni-blade was great and all but without Mitch here to fix all my tech issues I just didn't trust the combat program not to seize up at a crucial moment in the simulations. Having that particular tool on me just eased my mind a little bit. Now that I think about it, the thing reminded me of home in a weird way I guess.

"Thanks doc." I looked down and admired the protective covering that I now wore. The material was almost completely covered in dark gray with just a slight streak of dark blue going up the sides of the rib cage and circling around the neck. The only other decoration which adorned the suit was the Alliance logo covering the right breast. I synced up my omni-tool with the armor. A moment later my helmet came out of a compartment on the back of the neck and snapped shut. Instantly, a holographic display appeared showing shield levels, heat sink readings from the pistol I was currently holding and empty boxes that would represent the shield levels of my squad mates, if any were synced as well.

"So. What brings you down here to the course Jiro?" I sat down on a bench across from the man, waiting for my turn to run the gauntlet for the last time. "I know you usually avoid it like the plague since all the shooting hurts your delicate ears."

The final test was basically an improved and more painful version of the Shanxi run back at boot camp. The idea was the same, soldier goes in and fights holograms. Only this time they actually had kinetic barriers on them, which in layman's terms simply meant they had actual mass to hit you with if you got in close. Oh yeah and the slugs were kinetic too. Getting shot would be a painful experience. I could definitely expect some heavy bruising if it happened.

"Well a prestigious doctor of the Alliance like myself can't exactly be seen associating with grunts all the time now can I? It would ruin my sterling reputation." He gave a big shit-eating grin. "But just this time, I'll demean myself and come to see your final big test."

"Well I appreciate that. It's been fun, but I'll be glad to be done with training and finally get stationed somewhere."

"I hear that."

A loud voice over the loudspeakers announced that it was my time to run the gauntlet. "Well that's my signal."

I shook the doctor's hand with my own gloved one and walked off to finish my training. "Good luck Wolf. Kill it out there alright?" Walking to the doorway that began the course, I readied myself. I attached my M5 Phalanx pistol to the magnetic strip on my right hip, pulled out the shotgun from my lower back and got ready.

"Three." I flipped off the safety on my rifle, shotgun and pistol. "Two." I turned on the microphone and speakers on my helmet for instructions they were going to be giving. "One." I erected a barrier. Don't know what's on the other side of the door but I'll bet it's not friendly. "Go."

The door opened and a hail of gunfire met me almost instantly. My shields dropped to twenty percent before I backed myself into cover against a hard metal barricade. I put the unfired shotgun on my back and pulled out the Lancer. I popped up over the cover and fired two bursts at an oncoming armored turian. As he dropped to the ground a violent display of blue blood burst from his chest. It seems like they really stepped it up for this one. That was pretty damn lifelike.

Ignoring the rising nausea I fired another burst at a batarian in cover before my shields dropped dangerously low. I dropped into concealment to let them build back up. The sound of bullets pinging all around me filled my helmet as I waited. Alright, time to go. With my pistol in hand and biotics flared, I rushed the two remaining enemies. Lining up the laser sight on the skull of the batarian I fired three quick shots. It took two shots to break the shields and the third pierced the head of the soldier and he dropped to the ground. The one remaining combatant popped out of cover and I threw a lift orb at him with my left hand. As he floated through the air I launched a pulsating warp at the hologram which resulted in a loud and colorful explosion.

"Move up the stairs on your left!" Heeding the instructor's words I ran headlong into an empty room with two overturned tables. Well, empty except for the turian swinging at my head. Thinking quickly, I ducked under the blow aimed for my head and unsheathed the knife. Before the turian could turn from his wild blow, I spun around and buried the knife to the hilt in the soldier's neck, making sure not to fall this time. A burst of blood spurted from the wound and I recoiled before remembering that it was only holographic.

"Get your ass in gear, Private Wolfert!" Sheathing my knife I sprinted once again, shotgun out and ready to go. It wasn't long before I came under fire again, my shields dissipating quickly. This time completely though.

"Shit, shit." Quickly, I raised my barrier that I had let drop when attacking with the knife. Before I could do that though, a slug hit me in the chest and knocked me to the ground. I wheezed on the floor for a few moments before popping back up to a crouching position behind the wall. A yelling soldier ran through the doorway I had previously been hiding behind and scrambling onto my back I blasted twice with the shotgun, decimating the armored man. Unfortunately, he also fell forwards right onto me.

I shoved the hologram off to the side, grunting loudly as I did. That thing could definitely stand to lose a little weight. Resuming my position back at the doorway I surveyed the scene to see a remaining three adversaries blasting away. Alright, back to the rifle. Peeking back out I put the rifle up to my visor and lined up the shot, pulling the trigger twice and sending ten bullets into yet another digital antagonist who disappeared from view.

Two left. I glanced quickly out before locating them behind cover and firing again with the Lacner. "Fuck, overheated." I was in the process of switching to my Phalanx when a disc-like object flew into the room just a few feet away from me. That…looks like a grenade. The thing beeped loudly. Oh shit that is a grenade. Yelling loudly, I ran from the room and dived into cover as the sound of kinetic slugs littering the room I was just in sounded all around me. That was damn close.

However it was now out of the frying pan and into the fire as two flanking programs were on either side of my cover. Making a quick decision, I jumped out to the right, putting one into stasis and effectively freezing him. I twirled quickly and threw a lift orb that hit the other in the chest and resulted in the armored combatant moving slowly through the air, arms windmilling the whole time. Before the stasis could wear off I spun back around and dropped the stasised opponent with three quick rounds from the M5 Phalanx that killed the hologram. Doing a one-eighty a final time I prepared for a moment before unleashing a biotic charge that caught the low floating opponent in the chest. The resulting explosion finished off the combatants in the room.

"Break the door!" Ok…I came to a wooden door and hesitated for a moment, before pulling out the shotgun. I fired at the bottom and top hinges before hurling another throw at the door that slammed it into the ground. Firing four times in quick succession I put down two more onrushing programs before the shotgun overheated. Taking advantage of this, the last platform rushed at me, decking me with a solid right that knocked me back into the wall and caused me to drop the shotgun. A heavy left hand flew towards my face which I blocked with my own left before swinging my right hand towards the arm, hitting just behind the elbow. A very lifelike sounding grunt of pain could be heard and before the VI could react I unsheathed the dagger and sank it into his armpit, where armor would be weakest in a real-life scenario.

Breathing loudly, I reached down and grabbed the shotgun from the floor. "That's all recruit. Good work." What a relief. As I walked out the exit my upper body and head started to hurt like hell. Damn that punch still hurt, even through the helmet. And I can't wait to see the bruise that slug to the chest left.

As I walked out and began to change out of the armor I was greeted by the doctor who gave me some congratulations about the results along with another man I hadn't met yet. The soldier was wearing a gold leaf on the shoulder signifying that he was a major in the Alliance and once my hands were free of armor I saluted the man crisply which he simply returned with a smile. "At ease private." I studied the man more as he began to talk. Darker skin revealed the man's African parentage and creases around his face spoke of some rough experiences that he'd suffered through. The soldier's hair was shaved into a clean buzz cut, he also sported a mustache and slight bit of hair on the chin that adorned his face. "I'm Major Richard Kyle."

"Private First Class Nathaniel Wolfert sir."

"I know. Trust me I've done my research. Grew up in Detroit. Found out about your biotics just days before entering and passed through boot camp with excellent reviews from your instructors. And I just watched you tear through that course which solidified my decision."

"Permission to speak freely sir?" I looked at the Major with a quizzical expression on my face.

"Granted."

"I have no idea what the hell is going on. You know who I am but I'm not sure who you are besides your name and rank. If you could just clue me in on what's happening it'd be much appreciated…sir."

"Alright here's the deal. I'm assembling a specialized fire team to operate in this platoon wherever I see fit. One of each of the six specialized combat programs will be represented so there will be one soldier, engineer, adept, infiltrator, sentinel and finally you will be filling the vanguard role." The man looked over his shoulder and waved a group of people over. "You are actually the last spot that was filled so I have the rest of the team here to meet you. Guys get out here and introduce yourself. Give your name, specialization and where you're from."

The first member stepped out and introduced herself with a clean salute. "Private First Class Talia Hawkeye, hailing from London. Adept." The blonde biotic stepped forward and took my hand. She was tall for a woman, probably being about five foot ten and her hair was styled back in a simple messy ponytail with the distinguishing feature being the bangs that hung down onto her forehead. High cheekbones, a sharp pointed nose and clear, alert gray eyes spoke of intelligence and dedication.

"Pleasure to meet you Talia."

After that the next Marine that stepped forward was actually a familiar sight. I gave a little chuckle of delight at seeing his light brown hair, piercingly clear blue eyes and six foot eight frame which stomped over towards me and wrapped me up in a crushing hug. "PFC Ben Vandel, 'Bama, soldier. And it's damn good to see you Wolf."

"Likewise Big Ben, glad to have you back."

After that a miniscule woman walked forward and shook my hand. A broad smile crossed her petite Asian features and she peeked out from behind her midnight black haircut that I think was called a 'bob' if my small knowledge of female hairstyles served me correctly. "Private Second Class Marissa Simmons, San Diego, engineer."

"I look forward to working with you Marissa." I grinned at the woman in a friendly manner.

The parade continued and a Hispanic soldier walked up to me, grinning roguishly the entire time. The guy actually looked strangely familiar. "Diego Barnes, Private Second Class from beautiful Rio de Janiero in Brazil. Sentinel."

Dawning comprehension crossed my face. "Hey we met back in bio class right? Back at boot?" The Brazilian nodded. "You're the guy who helped out that suffering biotic recruit by…procuring supplies from the storage areas."

"Allegedly." Diego gave a charming smirk.

I smirked right back. "Of course."

So that just leaves one, an infiltrator I think. The final member of the squad began to walk towards me and I gave a yell of joy and swarmed the little guy. I was absolutely exhilarated to see him to say the least. "Mitch! You're on the team?"

The gray-eyed blonde stood up straight and saluted. "Corporal Mitchell Woley, infiltrator from the colony of Terra Nova. Oh and I'm your CO as of right now since I'm the highest ranking personnel on the team. So watch the smart-ass remarks or I'll report your ass faster than you can say sarcasm." The Nova native grinned to show he was joking, well maybe half-joking.

Since the rest of the crew had introduced themselves I figured it was now my turn. "PFC Nathaniel Wolfert, but you can just call me Nate or even Wolf. I'm from Detroit, Michigan and I'm a vanguard."

Now that everyone knew each other Major Kyle stepped in. "Good. Now that introductions are out of the way we can get to business. You six will be designated as either 'Sierra or Specialist squad,' interchangeably. The next few months will be spent learning how to function as a team and then the real work begins when that's done."

I sighed contentedly. This'll be fun. Our company is assembled and I can't wait to start running drills together. Maybe run that course again with six people this time and rinse through it, guns blazing. Either way it's just good to see everybody again though. Diego should add a little bit of chaos to the mix. Talia will probably be spending most of her time balancing him and me out. And Marissa just seems really nice. Too nice to be a soldier that's for sure.

So that's it for Jon Grissom Academy. I spent six months there but for some reason the time just seemed to fly by at Arcturus, especially compared to boot camp. As I said my goodbyes to Jiro, the instructors and the station itself I grinned happily. Finally, I was a fully trained Marine in a kick-ass squad ready to do some damage. Whatever came our way we'd be ready.

**A/N: Merry Christmas everybody, sorry I'm a day late. I am a bad procrastinator and I put off Christmas shopping until yesterday…but I did get gifts for all five of my siblings along with my Mom and Pops so I definitely got shit done in record time.**

**I was debating internally about how much I really wanted to flesh out the six months of academy preparation for a long time and eventually settled on this. There was really nobody I needed to characterize and I really didn't want to write another six or seven chapters of training montages which I doubt you guys wanted to read anyway so that's that. We are now in the year 2177 and six years away from ME1 *sigh* we'll see if I ever get there.**

**Ranger Station Charlie is my Beta who really need to get my timeline finished and sent to :(**

**Unity9: Thanks! That was the only third-person writing I've ever done so I'm glad it turned out okay.**


	19. Wonderwall

Major Kyle turned to us as we arrived at our new base of operations near the Skyllian Verge, close enough to respond to any distress calls while not provoking the hordes of slavers and pirates that roam the area. We were apparently spending a few months there to gel as a team before we got posted on an actual vessel as a Marine detachment for the crew. Only a short time left on solid land before I would be surrounded by the endless expanse of cold, dead, space. It's terrifying. "Specialists, you have ten minutes to strategize before entering the sim. Take that time to figure out your plan."

Well shit. That doesn't leave us too much time. I figured when they told us to suit up, grab our weapons and wait in the particular room we were in now that something was going to happen. What I didn't think was that they'd throw us into a combat scenario, even if simulated, right off the bat. Almost as one we all turned to Corporal Mitchell Woley, the highest ranked member of our fire team. Silence filled the room. "Well don't everyone talk at once." I tried to ease the mood a little bit. "Mitch what's our first step?" 

"Let's get a basic formation set up. I have some ideas but I'd like to hear suggestions also."

"That sounds great but before we start." The team turned to look at me and I got an embarrassed look. "Can you fix my omni-blade? It's been screwy lately and I don't know what the issue is." A loud groan filled the chamber.

"Yeah just gimme your arm." I stuck out my left hand and Mitch went to work. "I say we go with a basic diamond formation. Two up front, two in back and one on each side."

The blonde Brit, Talia, cut in. "That should work for starters. Who goes where though?"

"Well Mitch you should probably be in back." The familiar drawl of Ben Vandel could be heard. "And I should probably take the front since I'm the only one in the crew with heavy armor. Plus, I can put my brand-new demo abilities to good use up there. Well, in real situations at least."

A quiet, feminine voice belonging to Marissa was next. "And I should stay in back with Mitch I think. I can use my tech, snipe a little bit and since I'm the medic for our team, staying back to help out is probably for the best." She blushed from nervousness. "As long as you guys are ok with that of course."

The tall southerner smiled at the woman. "I think that sounds great. That leaves just three positions. Who wants to join me on the front lines?"

"I'll do it." I raised my hand and volunteered. "We'd work well together. I can lift them up and you can finish the job. Plus, I've got a new biotic technique I've been working on for the last few months that I think you all are going to love. It's not perfect yet but give it a little more time and it'll be amazing. Who knows, it might just save our asses someday. So just wait patiently and hopefully it won't be a big disappointment."

"Do you always talk this much, what was it, Wolf?" Talia stared at me. She looked slightly annoyed to say the least.

"Affirmative on both ma'am." I saluted. "There, that better Hawk?"

"You're taking the piss aren't you?"

"I'm doing what with what?"

Mitch exhaled loudly. "It's a British idiom. It means you're kidding basically. Right?"

"Pretty much."

"Ok, so that would leave…Diego and Talia to take the sides. You two will support the front and back as needed. So…just to review. Oh, and I'm done with your blade Wolf." He looked at his own onmi-tool and jotted down a few notes. "Big Ben. Wolf. You two are the tanks."

"We're what?"

I pointed to Ben. "What he said."

Marissa answered our question. "It's an RPG term. It means that you two are basically the…" She paused. As if looking for a delicate way to phrase whatever it is she was trying to say before Mitch cut in with a remark of his own.

"It means you two are the bullet sponges who soak up fire while the rest of us shoot the shit out of whatever's distracted by your shields and barriers."

I turned to look at Vandel. "Buzzkill much? I was really looking forward to this whole, 'front-line fighter,' thing with you before that too."

"Wolf?"

"Yeah?"

Two voices sounded at once, one male and one female. "Shut up." Great, now Woley has a partner in crime with Talia. "Diego, you use your tech and biotics to harass their shields or pull anybody who gets too far out of cover. Hawkeye, try and support the front two by getting anyone Wolf can't."

"If one of us hits someone with biotics make sure you detonate that guy with a warp or reave as soon as possible." I tried to make a useful contribution for once. "Diego, you can warp too right?" The relaxing Brazilian gave a cheeky smile and a thumbs-up. "Good. Then all three of us biotics need to communicate on the battlefield so we can sync up our attacks."

"Alright, Simmons you use your tech skills to wreak havoc on their equipment. Overheat guns. Fry shields. Incinerate armor. All that good stuff."

She gave a friendly smile. "Will do Corporal. I can handle that."

"And finally. Whatever is left and still moving I will shoot in the head with a sniper rifle." He looked over his notes. "That sounds like everything then for our first run. After this we'll meet back up and review how things worked out. But for right now…I think I like this set up. Everyone cool with it?"

A loud chorus of approval sounded through the room before the loudspeakers blared. "Specialist Squad. This is Major Kyle giving you a five-minute warning. Another one will be given at two minutes and also at thirty seconds so do what you have to now to get ready. I will be watching from the sidelines and after the battle is over will review the footage with the six of you. We'll discuss various points of the simulation where you either did well or need improvement."

He paused for a moment. "There are three points that you will be taking that are marked on your HUD. These three regions are your only objectives in this scenario. Do whatever it takes to reach them. When you take each capture zone, all six of you will huddle up and hold position inside the specified area for thirty seconds before continuing to the next point. The countdown will also be visible on your helmet's display so you won't have to worry about manually counting down."

He took a deep breath before continuing. "When I assembled this team, each and every one of you was chosen for a particular skill set that you possess. I have extensively reviewed every bit of data we have on all six of you. I've spoken with your instructors and even fellow recruits along the way. Now at first glance, I might seem like an idiot for putting this team together. All six of you come from vastly different backgrounds and it might not seem like you have anything in common. But there is one thing I do know that each and every one of you share. In your own unique way, all of you are dedicated to not just completing the tasks you are given at the bare minimum, but excelling at them. That unified drive for excellence is what I believe will change you from a ragtag bunch of just out of training Marines thrown together, into a cohesive team that works like a finely-tuned machine of war." Another pause for a few seconds. "I know you will do me proud out there. Good luck Marines."

I turned to Woley, completely straight-faced. "How long do you think he was preparing that speech for?"

"You just had to ruin the moment didn't you?"

"It's what I do."

With the talk wrapped up and by my estimation about three minutes left, I took a seat next to the southern private who was fiddling with his omni-tool and opened up a private communication. I'd rather not yell through my helmet. "What you up to Big Ben?"

The man turned to look at me, almost embarrassed. "Nothing."

"Well, you're definitely doing something there with your tool. If you don't want to tell me that's cool."

He sighed a little bit. "You'd probably think it's stupid anyway."

"Hey, it's me, stupid and I are on great terms." I raised my hand as if preparing to swear an oath. "I promise not to laugh or make fun of you."

"Alright, fine." He sighed. "There was this really old song from, I think it was the late nineteen-hundred's, or something like that. My football team used to listen to it before every game day to psych ourselves up. For some of the guys, it even kind of became a superstition. The first time we played it at the stadium we won our first game in years so after that it just kind of snowballed until it became a thing. Figured I'd continue the tradition now before we go into this sim, see if it helps at all now."

"There's nothing weird about that man. Whatever you have to do to get yourself ready is fine by me." I took out my knife. "Look. I still carry this thing even though I can literally generate one from my freaking omni-tool on demand. It just makes me feel a little more secure. So I'm no music junkie by any stretch but if you need to listen to some song to get you in the right state of mind that makes total sense to me." I put back the knife and turned on my omni-tool. "Look, I'll even listen with you. Just play the song and we can share it through the frequency."

"Ok." He made a few swift movements and before I knew it my own device lit up and the loud sound of rock music began in my ears. I tilted my head to look at the song which read Killing in the Name of by Rage Against the Machine. Huh, don't know it. Then again my millennial music knowledge is not too deep or anything.

Next to me, the private leaned back against the wall and I could see he had closed his eyes through the visor, just letting the music flow through him. He exhaled loudly in an almost wistful manner. "Almost makes me feel like I'm back in the locker room again. Those were good times."

The two of us remained quiet and just a few seconds after the chorus had started Mitch walked over to us yelling something unintelligible. I nudged Ben and as we looked at him he shook his head, holding up two fingers to indicate the time remaining and we gave a nod to indicate that we were ready. Loud rock music still continued and I decided that I actually really like this song. Beats the crap out of the techno stuff people listen to nowadays. I swear it's the same song over and over and they're just slightly altering it to fool people and make money.

I continued to sit next to Ben in silence. Listening to the sounds that were produced almost two hundred years ago. Mitch came by again holding up three fingers and then making a zero with the other. It's almost go time. I probably should switch off the private comm frequency.

Woley turned on the external speakers on his helmet. "Alright. Everyone sync up your omni-tools so we can share a channel." His voice then switched from the external to the headset inside my own helmet. "This is Woley. Everybody check in."

"Wolf, present."

"Ben Vandel, all good here."

"PFC Hawkeye, hear you loud and clear."

"Diego, I read you."

"Simmons, here."

Everybody went through their final checks on weapons and armor, making sure that shields were functioning properly, safeties were off, et cetera, et cetera. As the countdown started at ten and began to go downwards we formed up at the door. Mitch and Marissa were bringing up the rear, Diego and Hawk just in front of them as our flankers, then in the very front, Ben and yours truly. Since I had barriers for some extra protection I elected to take the very first spot. Plus, I can test out my bio-wall for effectiveness that way, still working on a better name for it though. 'Bio-wall,' is a bit on the nose.

Keeping my weapons on my hip and back for the experimental wall I was about to try for the first time. I mentally prepared as the clock ticked down, three, two, one and zero. As soon as the door opened I found myself in a lush jungle setting under immediate heavy fire. Giving a loud yell of effort I thrust both hands forward and a shimmering purple wall appeared. "Get into cover!"

I ran forward. Bullets pinging off the barrier but I still held out until everyone had found a spot behind some overturned crates. Mitch's voice came through my headset. "We're good Wolf. Join Ben at the front." Dropping my wall I ran the last few steps forward and slid into cover next to the Alabamian.

Panting heavily I tucked my back against the wall and watched as the bullets flew by overhead. Ben gave me a look. "Tired already? You're out of shape man."

"Screw you Ben. That thing sucks to hold up. I'm gonna be without biotics for a little while." With that out of the way I grabbed my Lancer and began to lay down some fire, focusing on a particular helmetless human target. With a shimmer his shields dropped and before I could fire again a loud sniper rifle cracked and the guy dropped. Turning around, the only one I could see holding a sniper rifle was Mitch. Of course. I raised my middle finger before turning back around and firing again. "You stole my kill Woley!"

Laughter sounded from multiple channels. "Don't start what you can't finish Wolf."

I began muttering as I continued to pull the trigger. "First they stick me up front and now I've got sniper boy stealing my kills."

"To be fair you **did** volunteer for that position."

"Thanks for that Hawk."

We had reached the first capture point and the countdown had started but now we were getting absolutely swarmed. Ben and I were pinned down by three advancing soldiers. That is, until a singularity from the right caught all of them and they began floating aimlessly. "Wolf! Detonate it!"

Hearing the orders from Talia, Ben popped up and began to shoot non-stop with the M76 Revenant machine gun he was carrying. Effectively holding down the enemy and allowing me to get off a warp that landed smack dab in the center of the already pulsating orb. "Holy shit!" I exclaimed loudly as the programs flew messily in three separate directions. "That was a thing."

As the timer reached zero, all six of us once again ran towards the next capture point. Holding only my pistol, I started lobbing lift spheres for someone else to take care of. "Hey Ben switch to shotgun, quick!" Hastily taking my advice, the human giant switched to the semi-automatic M27 Scimitar that he carried on his lower back. I threw another lift at a batarian that was scrambling to get behind cover. "Pull!"

After the Marine obliterated the floating soldier he turned towards me. "You're an idiot you do know that right?"

"Quit dicking around you two."

"Yes ma'am." I fired three rounds from my pistol that eliminated a hostile hiding in our second capture point.

"Hey, that was all Wolf." Ben declared obstinately. "All I did was shoot the guy. What'd I do wrong?"

"Well, you're probably guilty by association." Unfortunately my small talk distracted me from another hologram that had been hiding behind a corner. The hologram's kinetic barriers smashed into my helmet, knocking the breath out of me as I hit the floor hard. The rifle was lowered towards my face and the taloned finger was about to pull the trigger when a loud beeping came from it. The turian tried in vain to fire but it was no use and before he could switch to his sidearm a biotic throw smashed him into the wall.

"That was fucking close." I turned to see Marissa with her omni-tool out, having just fired a sabotage. In addition to that Diego was surrounded in a biotic aura. I smiled sheepishly through my visor. "Thanks guys."

Barnes gave a rakish grin and Simmons simply smiled warmly. Mitch then vaulted over the box I was behind and crouched next to me, examining my helmet. "Everything looks fine, headset still ok?"

"I can hear you if that's what you're asking."

"Good. Now how about a little less talking and a little more shooting alright? We've got another twenty seconds to hold this place down." He pulled me to my feet and gave me a pat on the back.

"Sure thing bossman."

Returning to my spot next to Ben I began firing at the oncoming enemy with my sidearm, deadly serious this time. I focused primarily on support while we held down the position, either by lowering shields with my pistols and letting Ben or Mitch finish with a kill shot or immobilizing them with my biotics. "Got another one lifted. Two o'clock high."

A combined burst of fire from my Phalanx and Diego's Carnifex heavy pistol put down the human hologram moving through the air. The corporal yelled out as the timer hit zero. "Form up and move out. Ben. Wolf. Let's go!"

I jumped over our cover and pulled out my rifle as from here to the next capture point looked fairly open. "Wolf, leapfrog up I've got you covered." The heavy machinegun fire from the other point man effectively pinned down the enemy who was holed up in a sort of guard tower.

"Got it." Sprinting forward down the walkway, I paused only for a moment to chuck a pull at a soldier who was leaning out from the ramparts just a bit too far.

Our resident Hispanic wingman picked up on it instantly and took advantage. "Big boom incoming. Cover your ears." A warp sped through the air towards the hovering human and a chaotic explosion came from the fortification. The blast was so large that another unfortunate hologram was tossed out of the building and fell all the way to the floor.

"I'm in cover at the capture point. We're good to move up." An oncoming horde of five Batarians began to rush my position before the rest of the team could join me. "A little help would be nice right about now."

Before I could even finish the sentence a tech attack from Simmons hit the nearing attackers, dropping their shields with a blue shimmer. Returning the rifle and pulling out my sidearm I began to drop the now shield-less group. I took two out with headshots. Diego caught two more with a cryo blast that Mitch promptly shattered with an incinerate he generated from his omni-tool. Finally, Hawk finished off the last one with a bone-crushing biotic slam that picked up the unfortunate program before hurtling it towards the ground at a literally breakneck pace.

"Wow Talia." Now that we held the position I switched to my Eviscerator and began to pepper the sprinting VI's that insisted on assaulting our entrenched position in a near-suicidal head on attack. "That was pretty violent."

"No shit Wolf, look at your hands. That's not red wine you're holding it's a damn shotgun."

"I would hope not. I don't drink." I perforated two more soldiers before the weapon overheated and I pulled out my pistol. "Still though. Back to that slam. Even for a battle simulation, that was pretty rough. You sure there's absolutely nothing wrong? I think you need to vent to somebody."

"I'm fine. Just shoot the bastards, ok?"

"You wanna talk about it?"

"No."

"We're all here for you and I'm sure the Corporal would especially love to talk to you about anything you had in mind."

"Fuck you Wolf." Once again, the two sounded in unison.

"What? I'm just saying you two would be a cute duo, a couple blonde bombshells like yourselves. There's a height difference but that's nothing, all couples have their struggles." I paused for a moment before a devious smirk that no one saw crossed my face. "It would make it a little awkward when you do the-"

Woley simply sighed in an exaggeratedly despairing fashion. Talia however did not. "Hey Wolf?"

"'Sup." I blasted away at another turian that leaned a bit out too far from cover.

"How's that scar on your face healing, not too well right? Unless you want another one to showcase for your pretty little girlfriend back home I would strongly advise you to shut the hell up instantly."

She's a little scary. "Understood." I decided to switch up the topic. "Hey Ben. Your timer glitching out or is it just me?"

"I'm stuck at thirty."

Marissa's voice cut in. "Yeah I'm stuck at thirty too. I didn't want to say anything because I thought maybe it was just me that was having problems."

"No, I've got it too."

"Well fuck." Yeah that pretty much sums it up. "Alright team I don't know what's going on but I think we're supposed to hold out as long as we can. Don't assume the drill is over until Major Kyle tells us it's over, alright?"

"Anyone injured?" Our engineer and medic quizzed over the shared channel.

"Yeah I took one off the thigh when I was covering Wolf on that last advance." Well now I feel bad. I should have got there quicker so he didn't have to hold out so long. "My shields dropped while he was still in the open and a slug glanced off the outside of my leg. I'd imagine it's gonna be a nasty bruise tomorrow morning."

"Can you walk ok?"

"A little slow but I'm fine." Mitch turned towards me from his previous position, crouched down next to Ben. "Wolf, I need you to look out for Vandel. Make sure to monitor his shield levels from your HUD and do whatever you can to make sure they stay active. Got me?"

"Sure thing buddy." I popped back out with my rifle and began firing, making sure all the while that the big guy was doing ok. Despite Vandel's injuries the team was holding out excellently, everyone contributing with their particular area of expertise to make one cohesive unit.

After minutes had passed the countdown finally started and ticked down to zero. The only problem was the long walkway that we now faced. It was a butchering ground. High towers flanked it on both sides and the little outcroppings of cover that lined the bridge were just that, tiny. The worst part was the width of the bridge forced us to go single-file the entire way.

I turned towards Mitch who was in the middle of beheading a hologram with his M92 Mantis. "Woley this doesn't look good." I voiced my misgivings with the Corporal, on a private channel of course. I'm not that big of an idiot. "This pathway looks like a fucking slaughterhouse."

"Yeah." Another loud bang came from the rifle. "I was just thinking the same thing. As soon as we head out there, cover is shit and we're going to be in a murderous crossfire."

"What do we do?"

He appeared to ponder for a few moments as he eliminated another hostile. "I hate to ask you this, but…"

"But what?"

"I need you to do that wall thing you did earlier. Can you handle that?"

"As long as I can call it a bio-cade or something like that." I joked a bit as I took my position near the front.

"This thing works you can call it a damn purple wall of terror for all I care." We went back to the group channel. "Listen up team, Wolf here is leading us down the walkway with that biotic wall-" I coughed loudly. "Excuse me, **bio-cade, **he made earlier. The rest of us will follow after him and blast the hell out of anyone who gets in our way. Simmons, get out your Incisor sniper rifle, me and you will be responsible for taking out the bastards in the towers. Hawkeye, lift targets for Vandel with your biotics. Barnes, use your tech to power up Wolf's shields and make for damn sure they don't drop. Wolf goes down we're all screwed. Any questions?"

Talia spoke up. "Yeah. What the shit's a 'bio-cade?'"

"The wall I made when we first got here. It's a combo of the words biotic and barricade. I just coined it, like how it sounds."

"Wow and here I was almost forgetting we have an idiot for a vanguard." Talia just shook her head.

"Yeah, but I'm our idiot right?" I looked around our brief huddle and saw mostly shrugs and noncommittal expressions through the visors. "You guys are dicks." Running up to the beginning of the walkway that looked like it stretched for miles from my point of view, I put away all my weapons and prepped myself for a final test of my biotics. This is gonna suck. "When I erect this thing you guys better be right behind me."

"We're with you Wolf. Let's get a damn move on."

Stepping out into the open I pushed both empty hands forward and practically screamed with effort as a shimmering purple wall appeared and began to draw all incoming fire right into it. "**Bio-cade!"**

"Seriously Wolf? You're calling your attacks now?"

Step by step I marched determinedly forward, watching as all around me chaos ensued. Marissa and Mitch were sniping from the back and taking out target after target while Talia lifted anyone left for Ben to quickly perforate with bullets. Diego just focused on keeping up my shields with a tech boost every now and then since I wasn't really in a position to defend myself. We were now about a third of the way through and I was actually feeling pretty good. Tired but overall pretty solid. I think we're going to make it.

The sound of running footsteps in front of us alerted me to incoming forces. Still moving forward, I yelled to the team. Even with the speakers inside our helmets the noise was almost deafening. "Guys?" I asked questioningly. "What do we do?"

Thanks to my wall in our front we had no line of fire whatsoever on these incoming bastards. "I'm thinking, just keep moving. We still have a bit before we need to do something." Mitch yelled back in an exasperated manner.

Foot by foot they drew closer and still dead silence. Alright, fine. If nobody's gonna do anything I'll take this into my own damn hands. I began to pick up speed as the gunfire still smashed into the wall and the oncoming horde was now just a few seconds away.

"Wolf what the hell are you doing?" The feminine voice of Talia sounded in my ear.

"Testing out the limits of this wall! Guys keep doing what you do and stick behind me. Diego clean up the trash."

"Of course." He pulled out his pistol and prepared to blast any unfortunate programs in our way. If my plan worked of course.

As we were about to collide with the looming soldiers I let loose a primal yell. The first VI program collided with my violet fortification and the strain began to take its' toll on me. Panting heavily, I pushed forward and the smashed combatants began to pass underneath, following which the sound of Diego finishing off the holograms could be heard.

The last few soldiers continued their bumrush and the purple wall began to grow extremely translucent. "Guys, I don't feel great." My head felt weightless and the room began to spin around me. Black spots filled my vision as I struggled to keep steady. "I think…I'm gonna," words began to slur, "sit down, just one minute." As my arms dropped to my side, the previously intact barrier dissipated and I fell forward. The floor met my visor, then blackness.

**LINE BREAK**

My eyes opened groggily and I looked around the room for a few second before glancing down. I'm in a bed. And a dress. "Well look who's up." Turning towards the familiar voice I looked into the eyes of Mitch Woley who was grinning largely at seeing me back in the land of the living. I gave a little pathetic wave. "How do you feel Wolf?"

"Like my skull's been put through a vice, then flattened, dropped off a skyscraper and then stomped on by large animal-things."

"Sounds fun."

A familiar Asian doctor then walked into the room. "How's my favorite vanguard doing?"

"Really crappy. Is this what a hangover feels like? This is why I don't drink."

Jiro put his arms up in a mock display of hurt. "Come on now Nathan, you expect that highly regarded medical personnel like me knows anything about hangovers? You wound me with the implications."

"I would love to make witty banter with you any other day of the week doc but I'm not feeling so hot right now."

"Well we do have you on some painkillers right now just to eliminate some of the aftereffects you may be experiencing. I think the worst of it is over, although the drug may cause some slight disturbance from your usual cognitive behavior, mainly with your speech."

I leaned forward. "I honestly have no clue what you just said. Could you explain things from the beginning? I'd really like to know why I'm wearing a gown."

He took the chair next to me and sat down. "To sum it up. You overexerted yourself with your, "bio-cade," stunt and we've had you unconscious for almost the last two days while we worked to make sure your brain didn't explode. I told you to watch it back at Grissom but I figured you were too hardheaded to wait and let it develop slowly. Still, you did manage to get impressive results that my bosses will love to see. I grabbed the video and am bringing it back with me to show them and some of the other students too, cutting out the part where you fall flat on your face of course. How's that sound?"

"Sounds great Doc. I definitely appreciate you cutting that last bit."

"Good. You almost fried your amp with that performance but luckily for you the thing held. Otherwise the damage would have been much worse. As it is, no strenuous activities or biotics for two weeks."

I whined. "Come on doc. I'll be really careful."

"Nope, I'm not moving on this one. Two weeks. I'll talk to Richard on my way out."

"Who's Richard?"

"You know. Your boss."

"I thought Mitch was my boss? He said so himself." I turned to look around the room. "Where is the little bastard anyway? He ran off once I started talking about him. Hey, speak of the devil!." Mitch, who had left the room unseen now returned with the Major and the rest of the team. "Hey guys. Doc's got me on pain killers so my brain isn't working too well right now. Said it's affecting my cogarithmic abilities."

"Cognitive."

"Cognitive. And you know what sucks. I can't do anything for two whole weeks. Two damn weeks!"

Major Kyle looked over to Toshiwa who just nodded to indicate that the information was in fact correct. He walked the last few steps over and put his hand on my head with a serious expression on his face. "How you doing son? They tell me it was a little touch and go there for a while."

"Major Kyle sir, I'm a little f'ed up right now."

The Marine smiled. "Well we can't have that. You get yourself healed up and back to fighting shape you hear? In two weeks, we're going to Elysium how's that sound?"

"Can we visit the Shepard museum? I heard the news say they have one now."

"Kid, we get to Elysium and I'll write you a pass myself. Now you listen to the doctor's orders alright? No biotics for two whole weeks and then we're back out there kicking ass and taking names."

"Yes sir. I'll be ready Major Kyle."

"Good. You did real well in that sim out there." He turned to the rest of the team. "All of you did. The brass said my idea was stupid but I won them over in the end by calling this a trial run. And all six of you are showing why I hand-picked you for the squad. Relationships with those out in the Skyllian Verge are increasingly strained since Elysium and I'm hoping you kids will be my ace in the hole if worst comes to worst. It might not be now, hell it might not even be this year, but something's coming. When it does I want you all to be ready for action."

He turned back towards me. "That means no more crazy stunts from you Wolfert. Those simulations are specifically designed to be as real as humanly possible so I completely understand your reaction. But still, I'd hate to have to replace someone after everything you all have gone through because of an injury in a practice fight. Keep it up though team, and be ready."

His short speech ended, Richard Kyle left the room along with the doctor. Probably just to make sure everything was straight with my particular situation. "So, what happened guys? After I smashed my head I pretty much blacked out."

"Well," Talia spoke for the team, "after you blacked out Vandel here threw you over his shoulder like a bag of spuds and carried you the rest of the way to the finish. And he managed to keep your shields from breaking so you didn't take any damage."

"Ben, you're the best man."

"It's no problem Wolf. I know you'd do the same thing for me if I got in any real trouble."

"Yes I would."

Marissa cut in. "By the way I think Mitch got a special exception from Major Kyle so you'll probably have a personal call coming in any second now."

A ringing came from my omni-tool a few seconds later and I tried unsuccessfully to read the name that appeared. Oh well, guess I'll answer it. "Hi you've reached Private First Class Nathan Wolfert, Alliance Marine."

The face of a familiar young brunette appeared on the screen. "Nate! Mitch got my number from your device while you were out and told me you got hurt. Are you ok?"

"My brain aches and I can barely understand words. Other than that I'm great." The team slowly backed out of the room to give me some privacy, Diego giving a little wink and a thumbs-up as he stepped out while Marissa just smiled. "I made a big purple wall with my biotics, crashed into some guys and then blacked out."

"Mitch said you were unconscious for a day and a half."

"Yup. I don't remember it though, sorry."

"I see. Well you were knocked out so I think that's understandable." Her eyes crinkled in good humor. "I wouldn't know from experience but that's what I've heard."

"You know, I'm really happy that you called me. It's nice to talk."

"Well I'm happy that you're awake. I was scared for a little bit when Mitch messaged me."

"You don't need to be worried about me."

"Why is that?" She leaned in closer to the display with a curious expression.

"Because I'm too good at my job. All the fighting and stuff. The only time I get hurt is when I do it to myself."

"What about when you got cut on the chin?"

"Doesn't count. That was before I had biotics." Leaning back into the bed, I sighed contentedly. "You know why I like you E?"

"Why is that?"

"Because, you're really nice. And you have a pretty voice." I continued through the mental list that went through my muddled mind. "Your smile is great. Plus, you saved my life when you smushed that guy with the wood thingy. "

"Well thank you."

My thoughts wandered to the dinner I had with her family. "And your Dad and Mom are really nice too. They didn't even kick me out of your house. I liked your Dad's doctor stories. Especially the gross ones."

"Weren't they all gross ones?"

I pointed woozily at the screen for emphasis. "Exactly. I don't know if your Mom liked me though. I think she wanted me to be somebody who wasn't a former street thug."

"Don't say that. I think she started to warm up to you by the end of it. She even said afterwards that you can come over for dinner anytime you want. Remember that?"

I thought hard for a moment. "Really? I don't remember it. You're not just saying that right?"

"Nope." She shook her head and her hair swirled around her face. "Cross my heart, she actually said that."

"Wow that's really nice. In fact, I already feel better. No wait…I think that's the painkiller dosage…Em I want to come visit soon…first change I get." My head started to slump and then fell down onto my chest as my eyes closed.

**A/N: Happy day after Christmas everybody! Hope you all had a wonderful time.**

**I think I can keep up the Tue/Fri update schedule until the end of the year and after that it'll go back to once a week on Fridays. Also, the first two chapters are revised and updated. I'm still going through the first eight or so and updating things. There still won't be any real plot changes, just some general dialogue and pacing improvements.**

**Ranger Station Charlie is my Beta. P.S. My timeline is almost done. I just have Virmire, Ilos and the Citadel to plot out so there's that. Should be coming to you pretty soon.**

**DavidJ647: Thanks! Glad you liked it.**

**Tomovnikov: Yeah, there really wasn't too much going on in Vanguard Training so I figured it'd be a good place to do a little time skip and get to the new crew.**


	20. There Goes My Hero

I looked out the window as we prepared to land on Elysium. After a couple weeks of no-biotics and taking it easy they had officially cleared me and now here we were. Just a short distance from the site where Lieutenant Shepard had become an overnight Alliance poster child a few months back. And I mean that literally. You couldn't see an advertisement for the Navy or Marines without his blonde, steely gray-eyed countenance on it. The results of the attack late last year could still be seen even now as some of the buildings were still in the middle of being repaired. "Damn. Look at that one Hawk. I didn't think it would still be this bad."

"I hope those people got out ok." An entire section of buildings was completely on the ground. The British woman walked over next to me and leaned against the railing. "The damn slavers did so much damage." She pondered for a few moments. "You know…I'm really glad we got stationed out here. Heard that anywhere that's close to the Verge gets a pretty good chance to do some fighting."

"If we don't get a chance to take out some batarian pricks I'll be really disappointed. After all the attacks they've been making I think it's about time we got a little payback for humanity don't you think?"

"Weren't you listening to what Major Kyle said?" She shook her head in disbelief. "I mean he basically all but told us that when we were being introduced. There's definitely a reason he put us six specialists together. I'll bet you that sometime soon, maybe not this year, but by next year for sure we're gonna see some action."

I smirked. "Promise?"

"Sure why not?" She smiled back. "I didn't sign up to sit around a barracks all day and faff about."

"Faff?"

"It means to screw around."

"Ohhh…" Dawning comprehension filled my head. "You know, every time I almost forget how British you are you say something like, 'faffing about,' 'wanker,' or my personal favorite, 'taking the piss.'"

"Sod off Wolf."

"See what I mean? You're making my point for me." I raised my arms to make illustrate. "I'm guessing that meant screw you or something similar. Am I close?"

She clapped sarcastically. "Great job genius. You've correctly cracked the ancient mystery of English slang words."

"You know. I have the slightest suspicion that what you just said wasn't genuine." Silence filled the ship as neither of us talked for a few seconds. "So what do you think of the team?"

"Diego's solid all around with his biotics and omni-tool. Not too bad with a Lancer either. Marissa's a tech genius and for a little girl packs a punch with that three round burst sniper she uses. Vandel's a friendly bruiser. He just gets the job done with whatever weapon you want to give him, won't complain about a damn thing and will have a big grin on his face the whole time. Mitch is a fucking boy wonder and he's got the size to match that statement. Guy's a natural leader and deadly accurate with that sniper plus he can overload shields and the like every now and then when he's not busy scoring headshots. I'm a tier five biotic who can shoot a little too. And you," she paused for a moment, "you're a headstrong idiot who fortunately happens to be able to follow orders when it really matters and is fairly handy with biotics and pumping stuff full of bullets. I hate to admit it but that wall thing you did was rather impressive."

"Wow Hawk. I think that was the nicest thing anyone's ever said to me." I smiled at the woman. "I meant as people though."

"Oh I don't know." She shrugged. "I'm more suited to judging battle ability than character I think." I looked at her pointedly. "Well in that case. Diego's a lovable rogue. Marissa's a really sweet girl. Ben's just an overall good guy. And Mitch plays the straight man to your wise guy routine."

"Wow. That, quite honestly, was some of the best nutshelling I've ever heard."

She shrugged. "It's a gift."

"But what about you. Now it's my turn to characterize you." I leaned in, faking intense scrutiny and tapped my chin in thought. "I think you're a smart, talented soldier who acts like nothing affects her for whatever reason."

"You have your ways and I have mine Wolf. You're a smart ass anyway but from talking to Mitch and Ben plus doing a little analysis during the simulations I think you ramp it up in stressful situations to cope. It probably stems from your background on the streets and being around life or death situations from the time you were a kid. Am I right or am I right?"

"Nah you're wrong. I'm just an asshole who likes to make fun of things…oh and by the way you sound like a damn psychiatrist. I thought you said you didn't do character evaluations." I ended my little rant and sighed. Damn that's pretty much spot on. There's no need to snap at her like that. "Sorry about that. I just don't like it when people see past my half-faked wall of idiocy."

I rubbed my face and exhaled loudly again before taking a step back to look at the adept. "You know. I found something out living on the streets and if you don't mind I'm gonna share it with you now."

"Do I really have a choice?" She gave a sarcastic grin.

"Not really." I returned the smirk. "If there's one thing Detroit taught me it's this. You have to use whatever you have in your arsenal to your personal advantage. When I was a kid the Reds used me to their advantage because nobody suspects a kid of smuggling and I used that in turn to stay fed. Thanks to some brutal beat downs I learned there's no, 'honor code,' in a real fight. Somebody comes at you with bad intentions you use whatever you have at your disposal. It doesn't matter if it's a gun, a knife or a two by four. And to your point, if some asshole underestimates me because I'm cracking stupid jokes then I'll use that to my advantage too."

"Damn. And I thought I could be a callous prick." She grinned knowingly. "So, by the way you put that I'm curious. Have you ever had to shoot someone?"

"Yes. Non-lethally. I'll tell you the story sometime if you're a good girl."

"Interesting. But back to personality." Her face went back to the analytical expression she wore earlier. "I guess that's pretty much what I thought. Just wanted to hear I was right from you. It's like I said a minute ago. You have your ways of surviving and I have mine. Maybe it helps me to act like a no nonsense, cold-hearted bitch out there."

"Guess that makes sense." I took a step back towards the bannister and propped myself up with my elbow, facing Talia. "So. How about you keep acting like a jerk all the time and I'll keep doing the whole clown shtick. With a gun. And biotics."

"Sounds good Wolf."

"You know. I think I understand you a little bit better now Talia."

"I think I understand you a bit better too Wolf." Without another word we went to gather our things for the landing.

**LINE BREAK**

"Holy crap it's like Christmas morning!" I rushed into the armory of our new base on Elysium and began to rifle through sets of armor until I found the cases that were set aside for the newly-formed "Specialist" squad. "Hey guys over here. I'm motherfucking Santa Claus." Six sets of brand new Onyx armor each specially designated. I began to look at the nametags attached.

"I'm gonna start handing them out if you guys are ok with that."

Mitch didn't even bother to turn around as he was entranced by the wall of sniper rifles. "Knock yourself out Wolf."

I walked around the room holding the first two. "Alright, first off I've got armor for our lovely ladies. 'Rissa here's some medium armor for you and this set of light armor is all yours Madame Britain."

"Thanks Wolf." The engineer smiled at me as I handed the case of armor to her.

"You can just use my name you know?" The blonde sighed. "Even, 'Hawk,' is better than that."

"Where's the fun in that?" I gave a slight bow and went back to grab the next two. Well. These are quite a bit heavier. "For the big man himself. What else but heavy armor?"

"You're alright Wolf. No matter what everyone else says."

I hesitated. "You know…I don't know whether to be offended or say thanks right now."

"Maybe both then?"

"We'll go with that." The other set still in my hands I ambled to the other side of the room where Diego was grabbing a Vindicator off the wall and handed him the light armor. "Para usted Diego."

"Gracias mi amigo." The Brazillian gave a friendly nod.

That left just two sets of armor. Some light armor for Mitch and then my own medium armor. "If I could interrupt your admiration of the sniper rifles for just a moment Corporal Woley sir." I snapped to a salute, grinning the whole time.

"Permission to interrupt granted Private Wolfert." He grabbed the item and gave a friendly pat on the shoulder. "Thanks buddy."

Everyone spent the next few minutes changing into their new sets of armor, me included. After Diego helped clamp the annoying as hell seals on my back, I admired the sleek new armor. We were all now decked out in matching dark blue armor with two thin gunmetal grey stripes going down our shoulders running all the way to our gloved hands. The only other adornments were the standard Alliance logo on one breast and a five-pointed star on the other with the words "Sierra Squad' above it, both in a bright white coloring.

"Guys, I think we need a group hug or something to commemorate this."

Talia laughed loudly. "Hah. In your dreams Wolf."

"Hey I'm just saying it since I'm the only one here currently in a relationship which makes it not as weird. I know you all were thinking it."

As soon as I had thoroughly examined the new armor and helmet, which conveniently expanded from a small compartment on the neck before wrapping around my head, I walked over to select my new arsenal.

First thing I did was go to the giant wall of assault rifles. The Lancer's great but absolutely terrible at long range so if I ever were to get pinned down in a long-range firefight I'd be completely screwed. Scanning the weapons of all shapes and sizes, I gave a defeated sigh as my eyes settled on my old nemesis, the semi-automatic fire M96 Mattock. Perfect. Well, I tried shooting a sniper rifle and that was really something to see. Mitch just about died laughing at my incompetence and Hawkeye even cracked a smile. Since I'm definitely not going with a sniper I guess that's my only option…fuck. Well look on the bright side, now I'll have something to do at the base. Could always use some extra time on the range.

Snagging an M22 Eviscerator off the wall and placing it on the magnetic strip on my lower back, I continued my search. Looking for a pistol to finish off my arsenal of firearms I took an M5 Phalanx, which I'd already had some experience using and stuck it on my hip. Finally, I grabbed a large dark-grey knife and slid it into the sheath secured around my left shoulder.

And I think that does it. Mattock for long range, Lancer for medium, Phalanx and Eviscerator for in close. I really want to test these things out now. Brand new armor and weapons that have never been used, it's such a shame. "How are you liking the fresh armor and weapons Private Wolfert?"

I turned to see the Major at which I quickly saluted. "Excellent sir. Can't wait to see some action."

"Well, I think you'll have your chance sooner rather than later Private so be ready."

**LINE BREAK**

I spoke in a deep, dramatic voice to the rest of the squad. "First Lieutenant Caleb Shepard was born on April eleventh, twenty-one fifty-four, the younger of a set of twins, to Alliance Marines John and Hannah Shepard. John served at Shanxi and passed away there in a valiant attempt to hold off advancing turians while his squad escaped. Hannah is still serving in an official capacity and is currently onboard the SSV Einstein."

"Seriously Wolf?" Mitch raised his eyebrows. "Are you going to parrot the entire backstory?"

"Yeah I might." I went back to my bassy announcer voice. "Caleb joined the Marines on his eighteenth birthday and served with great merit until further distinguishing himself in battle with slavers who were attacking the colony and earning for himself the nickname, 'Lion of Elysium.' Using only a combination of his biotics and personal firearms the Marine personally felled over three-hundred terrorists over the course of the day."

"Please stop Wolf." Talia sighed.

"Only if the majority wants me to stop."

Mitch turned from studying a lifelike figure of Shepard with pistol in one hand and biotics flared in the other. "Yeah I think you already know where I stand on this."

Marissa spoke bashfully. "I don't mind, it's kind of funny."

"I'm always up for you making a fool of yourself, especially in public settings where everyone can enjoy it."

"Thanks Diego." I turned to Ben. "So, you're the deciding vote Ben." I paused for dramatic effect. "What's it going to be?"

"Yeah, I think it's kind of getting old. Sorry Wolf."

"Shit. You guys always ruin my fun."

We walked around the museum in silence, everywhere you looked there was personal testimony from soldiers and civilians alike who had escaped with their lives thanks to the bravery of the young man. Shepard's show of gallantry had even earned him the Star of Terra for, "courageous and distinguished service that is above and beyond the call of duty." Basically what that means is he's now officially one of the biggest heroes the Alliance has. Not too shabby a resume. A tier six biotic who's regarded as arguably the most powerful human alive, expert grade marksman with both pistols and smg's. No mention of rifles but I guess when you can blow up a couple hundred slavers with just your mind assault rifles aren't really necessary. Sort of makes me look a chump comparatively and here I was feeling pretty good about myself too.

"You see this Talia?" I pointed to another statue of him generating a singularity. "I want to do that."

"I already can throw singularities." She smiled smugly. "Maybe someday if you work **really **hard and are a good boy then you can learn."

"Very funny." She just used my own words against me…the jerk.

"Maybe even without falling unconscious."

Now that's too far. "Hey! I saved everybody's asses back there in the sim."

"Hate to break it to you Wolf but it was just that, a simulation." The adept patted me condescendingly on the back. "You don't really die in those, they just fail you and make you do fifty pushups or something like that."

"Thank you captain obvious." I saluted the blonde woman.

"As your CO I order you two to cut the chatter and participate in the field trip." Mitch didn't even turn around from his studying of another plaque describing Shepard's background.

"You know, with that comment you just got yourself involved buddy."

"Bring it bitch."

A security guard interrupted us as we made our way through the museum while hurling vulgarities at each other the whole time. Nothing meant by it of course, if you can't insult someone to their face then what's the point of being friends? "Excuse me, we're very pleased to be visited here at the Shepard museum by Alliance Marines and are extremely grateful for their contribution to defending our colony but if your group doesn't calm down with the swearing I'll be forced to remove you."

I paused for a moment and a mischievous grin crossed my face. Looking over to Ben who had seen the impish look by this point he closed his eyes, shook his head in resigned defeat and began walking towards the exit. "Sir, what the fuck are you talking about?"

And that was how I found myself kicked out of a museum honoring the hero of the Alliance. "Nice one Wolf. I was just waiting for that and it definitely did not disappoint."

"Thanks Ben, couldn't help myself. I've been kicked out of a lot places in my day but now I can check museum off the list." I looked around at my four companions who were all in a various state of annoyance with me. Wait, four? I pointed around the circle of Marines. "Mitch, Ben, Marissa, Talia, me."

"What are you on about?" Talia looked at me quizzically.

"Guys, where's Diego?"

**LINE BREAK**

A couple hours later the sentinel from Rio de Janiero strolled back into the barracks like he owned the place. "Hey guys I'm back, just in time for dinner too it looks like."

"Where the hell'd you go? We were worried about you man, didn't know where you went." Our blonde infiltrator quizzed the returning Marine.

"Around." He flashed a charming grin. "Didn't feel like leaving the place yet so when that guard turned around I managed to disappear. Also grabbed this for you guys." From under his loose, unbuttoned Alliance jacket he snaked out a large bottle of what looked like whiskey. "I figured everybody could stand to loosen up a bit, just let me hide this thing first. Alcohol on the base isn't really looked upon too highly by the brass."

Woley grabbed the bottle from the man and cracked the thing open, taking a swig before handing it back to the Sentinel. "All is forgiven Barnes. Let's go to dinner."

"Hold on Mitch. I've got one more thing." From out of his front pocket he grabbed a can of liquid and tossed it over to me. "I know you don't drink Wolf and I didn't want you to feel left out."

I looked at the can of Coca-Cola in my hand and grinned, it'd been way too long. Flipping the tab to the satisfying sound of a can being opened, I tilted my head back and drained half the thing in one gulp. "Diego," I gave a contented sigh, "you're the man." I finished the drink and pocketed it, waiting for a convenient time to toss it in the trash. "Where'd you get this anyway?"

"Found it."

"Of course you did. Let's go chow."

Now that our team was properly assembled we headed to the mess hall and grabbed a plate, filling up the empty spaces with, 'food.' We made small talk as we headed through the line, chatting about anything but work right now. Once we were done the six of us headed over to an empty table and sat down to eat.

A loud voice carried through the lunchroom. "Well look here boys, it's the 'all-star' squad. They've come to grace us lowly Bravo boys with their presence."

Needless to say, the other fireteams were not always pleased at the fact that we got what they thought was preferential treatment. We got to select our weapons, met with the Major in person frequently and got a special insignia which was the most horrible thing of all. Over the time we had been stationed at the barracks we had settled into a friendly rivalry with the other squads. Actually forget that, friendly might be too strong of a word. We haven't gotten into a straight up brawl, yet, so that's a positive.

I returned the friendly greeting. "'Sup assholes, how's the view trailing behind us treating you guys lately?"

The Marine gave a leering grin in the direction of our engineer. "Well, depends on who it is now doesn't it."

"Hey fuckface." Ben snarled in an uncharacteristically savage manner for the rather gentle giant. "That's my teammate. You don't wanna treat her with the respect a Marine deserves then I'll be across this table faster than you can say, 'yes sir.'"

"I think I touched a nerve there. What do you guys think?"

The rest of the table just laughed at the man's words as I stepped in front of the six foot eight soldier. "I think you're going to be lucky if your nerves are still intact after we beat your ass in competitions next week."

The Marine got up from the chow table and stood in front of me, our faces practically touching. "Why wait 'till next week Wolf-boy? We can settle this, right here, right now. Unless of course you don't want to be embarrassed in front of Gigantor's girlfriend over there."

"Listen up you bloody bollocking berk. I will slap your silly stupid arse with a singularity so fast your head will spin if you don't sit down at that table in the next five seconds." The blonde took her turn to get into the man's face. "You read me you pikey wanker?"

The man chuckled a bit and the stupid grin remained on his face. "The Brit's got more balls than the lot of you."

"I **said** to piss off you manky nobhead." Talia continued to stare at the man until with a shrug he returned to his table.

"Talia…" I looked at the woman and tried not to bust up laughing. "I don't know what any of that meant but it was fucking amazing."

I turned and saw Marissa standing next to Ben. "Hey thanks for sticking up for me back there. I was about to say something when you cut in and after that," she laughed lightly, "it looked like you guys had things handled. You too Wolf and Talia."

"No big deal at all. You're my teammate, I'd do that for any of you guys."

Ben scratched the back of his head nervously. "Yeah it's no problem at all Marissa."

"Hey team, let's eat quickly and then get to training because we've got some asses to kick." Mitch sat down and began to dig into the Alliance-provided meal.

**LINE BREAK**

"Alright here's the rules for today's scrimmage." Major Kyle instructed us as the six of us stood opposite fireteam Bravo. "First off, there will be no usage of biotics besides personal barriers. They are simply too dangerous and we don't want any serious injuries. Secondly, as soon as your shields and or barriers are depleted and you are hit by a fake round a sensor on your armor will go off. The VI in your armor will then alert you that you are eliminated. You are to put away your weapons immediately, raise your hands over your head and exit the battlefield immediately. Any questions Marines?"

I raised my hand. "Yeah, can I use my bio-cade?"

"Yes, but do you really want to try that again?"

"If it's necessary to win, then yeah, yeah I do. I **really** do not feel like losing to these assholes." I turned to the opposing squad. "Sorry, that was probably unnecessary. Even if it is true." Bravo team simply gave the one-finger salute. "Yeah, I think I deserved that."

"Now, if Private Wolfert is done interrupting, you teams can go to your separate sides of the field and we'll kick this off in a couple minutes. Good luck to all of you."

The six of us walked to our side of the forest that served as our battle field for today. I looked around and studied the combat zone, the only real protection was skinny trees and logs that looked like they had been piled up specifically for this purpose. A guard tower in each of the four corners were the only structures that I could see in the entire field. This'll be interesting.

"So, what's the line of attack guys?"

We now had approximately two minutes to plan on how we were going to systematically eliminate the opposing force. Everyone turned to Mitch as our de facto leader anytime we needed an idea on something and to his credit he usually came through. "Alright, here's what I'm thinking. You guys have any input interrupt me immediately since we don't have time to waste dilly-dallying."

I interjected immediately. "Yeah, I have something. Who the hell says 'dilly-dally' that's under seventy?"

"Thanks for that important contribution Wolf."

"In all seriousness though, we need to take advantage of those guard towers." I pointed to the corners where they stood. "I took a quick look and cover is sparse. If we can draw them into the kill zone of those things then it's game over nearly immediately." Mitch looked taken aback. Frankly, it was insulting. "Hey, I have good ideas every now and then."

Our sentinel began to talk. "The only problem is drawing them in. We need to do something to bring them across the entire field without sacrificing numbers."

"Ok, let's settle what we can definitively first before we get to that." Talia tried to get us back on track. "Who's in the guard tower?"

"Well, since Mitch and I are the best snipers here I was thinking that we could do that. If that was alright with you guys."

"Sounds great Simmons, you and I will be up in the tower with snipers out waiting for them to come in view."

"Diego why don't you stay with them to guard their back, just in case they slip past us somehow." The Hispanic man gave a playful salute and joined Mitch and Marissa while taking out his brand-new Vindicator rifle. "That leaves our three heavy hitters, Hawkeye, Vandel and me to draw them back to the guard tower where we can smoke the crap out of 'em."

Ben thought about it for a second. "That sounds like it could work, with my heavy armor, Talia's barrier strength and your biotic-wall we might just be able to make it back."

"Bio-cade."

"Bio-cade. We should be able to take some heavy fire without getting knocked out."

"It's missing something though." With just under a minute left on the timer, Woley began stroking his chin. "That's it. Alright, once we start getting within sniper range I want you and you," he pointed to Ben then Talia, "to withdraw to the two flanking log piles and lay down fire on them from there. Diego, I want you to join Big Ben once he reaches the pile. Think you can make it without being taken out?"

"You insult me, it'll be child's play in a heavy forest like this." He gave a confident grin. "I'll be there in the blink of an eye."

"That's what I like to hear. Your number one priority is to keep Ben's shields strong and additional cover fire is just icing on the cake."

I feel really left out right now and for the record I do not like the direction this took. Raising my hand, I queried the infiltrator in a questioning tone of voice. "What about your old buddy Private Wolfert? I think you forgot me Corporal."

"Nope, there's absolutely no chance of that old buddy." The tone of his voice when he said 'old buddy' scared me. I have a bad feeling about this. "You are going to be the distraction for when Hawk, Vandel and Barnes split for the logs. Once they make it to position you will join Private Hawkeye in cover."

Wow, it's like I knew what was coming but still feel horrified. "So let me get this straight. Ben, Talia and I are going to piss off and draw all six of them into our death trap."

"Mmhmm."

"Then, those two are going to split off to the logs and Diego is going to join Vandel. All the while, I'm going to be right in the middle with all six of the bastards firing away at me."

"Yup."

"Assuming I survive that I will then run like hell to join Hawk while the six enemies are still firing at me?"

"Got it on the first try." Woley paused for a second. "It's a classic pincer movement. Use a fake retreat to draw the enemy into an ambush where they're being attacked from three sides, one of them's even an elevated position."

As the clock reached zero I exhaled loudly in apprehension of what was to come. Even if they felt like it there was no time left to draw up a new plan. This was gonna happen. I grumbled inwardly. Go draw all the fire Wolf. No stupid, you don't get to snipe anyone from safety, you're just a big meat-shield and that's all you're good for. So go out there and get shot! Wooo, go team. "Alright, let's just fucking get this over with."

Talia and Ben went to the front while Marissa and Diego climbed the ladder into the overwatch position. Mitch however stayed for a second, as I tried to join Hawk and Vandel he pulled me to the side by the top of my armor's chest piece and opened up a private comm channel. "We're counting on you Wolf. I'm putting you there only because I know that you can get it done, alright?" He paused for a moment before looking up at me through his visor. "I know it might seem like I'm picking on you sometimes but that's because I know you can take it and still function. You and Vandel are the only guys I really know. I'm still working out the other three's strengths and weaknesses. That's why I'm splitting us up, one of us in each group. Until I'm able to get a better feel for their abilities I'm gonna be relying heavily on you two, you're my eyes and ears out there so don't leave me in the dark all right?" When I remained silent a concerned look crossed his face. "Hey, come on man you alright? Usually you'd crack some joke in terrible taste about me being disabled or something like that with that comment about eyes and ears. C'mon Wolf, I need you loose out there right now, okay?"

"Fine, but if I make it out of there alive I think I deserve a promotion."

"First off, I can't really give you a promotion. Second, you know no one's dying out there right? The bullets are fake."

"You know what I meant."

"Fine, how's this? You are my official right-hand man and if we ever get into battle you get to be the guy to talk to HQ since I'll be too busy."

"I also get to handle maintenance on all weapon and equipment for our team."

He looked at me strangely and replied hesitantly. "Done?" He stuck out his hand for me to shake. "Now call me short so you feel good and get a move on."

"Sweet." I snapped to attention. "Private Wolfert requesting permission to join Hawk and Vandel Corporal Midget sir!"

"Granted. Feel better?"

A big smile crossed my face, one which he returned. "Yeah, yeah I do."

"Good, then go shoot these fuckers."

"I can handle those orders."

**A/N: Hey more (non-lethal) action coming. The story's definitely going to ramp up in terms of the fighty scenes from here on out with a lot less, "filler," if I can use a dirty word.**

**Ranger Station Charlie is my Beta who I finally sent my timeline too. And I am officially super excited, can't wait to get to some of the future portions we've talked about.**

**RSC(Uno): Yeah the door part I could have probably explained better. The whole Vanguard sim was basically just throwing Wolf into a scenario and seeing how he reacts. Blasting down the door was just a part of that. Humans in general are really new to biotics so I think there's definitely a lot of potential for discovery there.**

**RSC(Dos): Thanks! That was my first real in-depth writing of a battle with an actual fireteam involved so I'm glad I didn't completely butcher it at least. I know…I was really sad that I couldn't get it to you as a Christmas present :(**

**Jedi Master Albus: Glad you're enjoying it so far. Thanks for the review!**

**Twisted Platypus: Definitely appreciate the feedback. I know I have a tendency to write run-on sentences so I might have gone overboard the other way where I end sentences too early when there really should be a comma…it's a fine line I'm still learning how to walk.**

**Yeah…I can definitely see Wolf grating a little bit on some of the ME cast but unfortunately that's still a ways off...damn my decision to write a prologue that starts seven years before ME1 kicks off.**

**At first there's really not going to be too many aliens so I know what you mean. Besides Dax, biotics and some of the weaponry it hasn't really gone too far in terms of the non-human cast. Rest assured though, as the story progresses the ratio of humans to non-humans will become much more even.**

**P.S. Big fan of your story, hope you keep with it and update it soon.**


	21. I'm the Guy with the Gun

"Where are they at?" I peered around the log pile I was situated behind, trying to get a glimpse of the advancing enemy. "I lost 'em Ben."

Instead of talking back he held up three fingers and pointed first left and then right. There they are, pretty close together in two groups of three. Perfect, we've got all six coming right at us. Now that I think about it that sounds really terrible that I'm excited all of them are going to be shooting at me in the next few minutes. The rounds are fake but still, sounds a little off-kilter that I'm happy about that. I really need to get a mental check sometime soon, my view on life might be a little bit…off.

Turning on my group channel I spoke in hushed tones. My external speaker was off but still, can't hurt to be safe. "Made contact approximately just a little while out from home base. What's the plan Mitch?"

"Stay hidden as long as possible if they keep advancing towards our position."

"What do we do if they start going in the opposite direction?"

"Shoot at them to get their attention. You absolutely have to make sure that they come into the circle of fire we're setting up."

I paused for a moment. "It's not really a circle…isn't it more of a triangle?"

"I don't fucking care, call it whatever you want. Triangle of confusion, rhombus of terror, parabola of mystery, just draw them into it." Mitch sounded really exasperated at my teasing which made me chuckle a bit. It's amazing that we can even work together when we both can just bug the shit out of each other without even trying.

"Yes Sir, Corporal Woley. Drawing them into the parabola now." I turned towards my two companions. "Alright, you guys heard the man so let's stealth it up a bit. If we get spotted then you two leapfrog it back and I'll hold up the rear and block with my bio-cade."

"Are you **still **calling it that?" The British voice of Talia came through the headset.

"Unless you can think of something better then yeah I am. It's kind of grown on me."

We carefully made our way backwards towards the rest of the team. Somehow we made it from tree to tree without being spotted, remaining on the fringes of sight. For a minute they'd disappear, we'd all panic, then the opposition would come back into view and everything would be ok. Things stayed that way for a while, at least until they grouped up for a couple minutes and discussed something.

As they talked I recuperated with my own team. "Mitch, they've stopped. You want me to engage or wait it out?" The only response was static. "Mitch, can you hear me? This is Wolf." Of course it was static. "Hey ass-face! Answer the damn channel." Well fuck you **and **your law Murphy. I crouched and ran over to where Talia and Ben were hiding and took a knee next to them, activating my external speaker as the comms were not working either. If I had to guess, this was intentional. Major Kyle was just throwing a wrench in the system and seeing how the fireteams would react. "Guys, I can't raise Mitch so we are currently on our own. As official second-in command as of about a half-hour ago I am making an executive decision." I paused and the two of them sighed loudly. It looks like the power's already gone to my head. "You two start the maneuvers because I'm going to kick it off. Mitch and the rest need to know that we're coming back to them and the plan is still in effect."

Ben nodded and turned to Talia. "You go now. Wolf and I will take first crack. Yell for me when you reach good cover and I'll take my turn to run past you."

"Got it."

She took off sprinting and the group of six turned towards her, too surprised to do anything. Guess that's my signal. "Hey assholes, think fast." Not my best insult but whatever, the effect is what matters. And it definitely worked, they turned from the running Brit and instead faced me and Ben now. As I hurled the oh-so stinging words we lit up the forest with gunfire, me with my Lancer and him with his M76 Revenant LMG. The six of them scrambled as rounds hit the woodland surrounding them.

"Ben, focus fire on the rightmost one." I yelled over the sounds of battle. "He's not even close to cover."

The two of us fixated down the sights on our rifles and the shimmering of shields indicated hits on the man. Before he could get into safety we took out the personal barrier. Shortly thereafter loud swearing could be heard as one of the enemy soldiers raised his hands, exiting the field of battle. "All mine, that one was mine." I shouted happily.

"Screw you Wolf. I totally got the last hit on him."

"Half a point each?"

"Deal."

It wasn't too long before the reduced team found a decent entrenchment and began to pin us down to where returning fire for more than a second was almost impossible. Our shields were almost instantly shredded as soon as we showed our face, even with my added barriers I couldn't do it. "Talia better get to cover soon or we're gonna be screwed Big Ben."

"Move yourself Vandel!" Speak of the devil.

"Can you give me a bio-cade please Wolf?"

"Since you asked so nicely..." I stepped out from behind my cover, an action I instantly regretted as all fire was drown to me instantly and thrust my two empty hands forward. A large purple wall appeared in front of me and the other team started yelling in surprise. God I love this thing, the effort is totally worth it. As long as my amp holds out of course, after what happened last time I was a little frightened to use it again. Walking backwards step by step, I grimaced from the effort of holding up the large wall as projectile after projectile slammed into it.

"Wolf I'm in cover, drop it."

With a loud exhalation of relief I dropped the bio-cade, turned tail and booked it towards a shoulder-high wooden barricade before throwing myself over, almost crashing headfirst into Talia. "Watch yourself Wolf."

"My bad, let me scootch over to the end over here so I can return fire." She mumbled something unintelligible, it almost sounded like, "nice job." "I'm sorry what was that?"

"I said…nice job with the wall back there. Wanker."

Pretending to clean my ear, which kind of loses effect when you have a helmet on, I leaned forward as if I had difficulty hearing. "I didn't catch that," I fired a burst from the Lancer, "almost sounded like you said, 'nice job.'"

"You know what I fucking said, just shoot at them."

I laughed as I leaned back out, this time using my Mattock to make up some accuracy at this distance. As I pulled the trigger as fast as possible, they advanced towards us, occasionally scrambling for cover when their shields dropped too low. We made our way back to Mitch, Marissa and Diego just like that. Talia and Ben alternated running to cover and once we were threatened heavily out came the shield and I ran back too. No eliminations were made for either side until I drew closer to the tower.

Once again I tried to raise home base on the comms. "Mitch come in. Can you see me yet?" Still, there was nothing but static on the radio. "Mitch, Marissa, Diego, somebody help me out here."

This sucks. I don't even know if I'm going the right way. When you come under fire, making sure that you're going the right direction pretty much goes straight out the window. The good news is that all five of them still followed us three blindly so we still had that part of the plan in effect but unless I could reach one of the guys we were pretty screwed.

"Ben, I still can't get the other three on the comms." I fired at a Marine who was leaning out just a bit too far, making him crawl back behind a large tree. "You ready for another run for cover big man. That guy almost flanked us."

"Sure thing." The six foot eight southerner stood up tall and blasted away with his Revenant. "Talia, comin' your way darling."

"Go on hillbilly, Wolf and I have got you covered."

I bellowed out as Ben began to run. "Bio-cade up!" I ran out and resumed the game of chicken I'd been playing with the opposing squad. Every time we made a run and I raised the wall my stamina dropped steadily as the fatigue compounded steadily. "Fucking move it!"

Static cut in on my headset as I tried my best to multitask with decoding the garbled words and still keeping up the divider. "Wolf…this is…almost…Big Ben…position."

"Mitch repeat that. Transmission was shit." I gave a grunt as a particularly large volley of fire was concentrated on my barrier and the shield began to shimmer dangerously.

"Can you hear me? Wolf come in, I can see your wall. Talia's close by and Vandel is already in pincer position soon to be joined by Diego once you give the word."

A huge grin crossed my face at hearing the little sniper's voice coming in clear and strong. "Mitch I could kiss you right now."

"Please don't." A small chuckle could be heard. "If you can make it a few steps more, then Marissa and I will be in range to start raining hell."

"Sounds good to me." I switched to the group channel. "Talia, run now. I'm going to join you in a minute but I need to recharge a little bit because I am about to keel over if I keep this up."

"Going now." The lithe, black haired adept sprang through the forest like a gazelle as I slowly retreated, looking over my shoulder the entire time for a suitable spot to hide behind for my recovery. That'll do. Letting my biotics fade, I sprinted, which is harder than it seems in medium armor, behind a wooden barricade and propped my back up against it. Breathing heavily from the effort, I tried to catch my breath and talk at the same time. The welcome sounds of sniper rifles began to fill the air and I smiled. The plan is going to work, just one final thing that I need to do. "Diego get into position, I'll let you know once I'm going to put another wall up. Get ready to run."

I could practically hear the smirk over the channel. "They won't even know what hit' em."

As I leaned against the wood, breathing deeply I tried to focus for one last biotic push. All that was left now was the final distraction. Talia and Ben were both in place, still hidden, just waiting to spring the trap and once that happened, good luck to anyone not behind solid cover. "Mitch, I'm ready. Give me the signal."

"Alright, everyone's set. Spring it."

With those words I walked out into the open as heavy fire erupted from the outcroppings of rock and trees on both sides in addition to the snipers from up top. One of the soldiers was eradicated almost instantly and threw up his hands in frustration.

"Bad guy down!" Talia yelled from off to the side.

Luckily for me the four men left were too confused to even mount much of a counter-attack. None of them fired at the same target, one at Talia, one at Ben, one at the tower and one for yours truly. If they were smart they would have withdrew instantly, or even tried to just bull rush us. My wall would have gone down instantly if they had any kind of sustained fire. I turned my head and caught a shadow slinking from tree to tree, almost at the soldier's position. Just a few more seconds. Push this out, don't stop now. My arms shook from the effort as I gave a guttural yell of effort. As more bullets slammed into the barricade, pain that felt like someone put hot metal to my body, and yes I do know what that feels like, surged through my body and I was forced to one knee. Blackness started to creep in on the edges of my vision and I shook my head violently to try and force myself to stay up.

"I'm in position, thanks for the assist Wolf. Even if I didn't need it."

Instantly I dropped what I was doing as my team's fire redoubled, seeing that our front wall was now down and that I was out in the open in an extremely precarious position. My shields dropped quickly and as I made it halfway to joining Talia's position, staggering from the pain the whole time, they were down to twenty percent and my VI was blaring obnoxiously.

"_Shields critical. Advise that you get to cover immediately."_

"Yeah no shit, thanks for the help. You want to do something about that instead of bitching at me?" Why am I arguing with a program? The shields fell to five and a red warning symbol appeared before, as if listening to my yelling, the shields boosted up to full again. "The fuck?"

Ignoring the strange boost but happy that I was still, "alive," I raced the last third to join Hawk as fast as possible while pain still shot through me, before collapsing behind the large grey rock. I could have hugged the thing. As I looked back towards the tower I noticed Mitch's omni-tool glowing bright orange. Oh. That's where the boost came from, no magical computers helping me out. I could just imagine the cocky smile that was on the smarmy bastard's face right now. Then he even gave a smug salute.

"Thanks for the assist Mitch." I grumbled, firing through the mental fog I was now in.

"No problem buddy. You looked like you could use the help."

"I was fine, didn't need the help." I muttered. "Those guys are terrible shots anyway."

"Sure you were." He sounded less than convinced.

"What, I was!"

"Wolf, you were getting blasted. My great-grandma could have shot you and she's practically blind."

I didn't respond for a moment as I saw one of the soldiers stuck in an awkward position. Lining up the Mattock's sights I gave four quick pulls of the trigger, the first three dropped the shields and the last one signaled another kill to bring my tally to one and a half. "I'm sorry, what you were saying Talia? I was too busy bringing their team down to half-strength to notice."

"Big deal, I've got one too."

"Hey, I've got one and a half, Ben and I agreed to a half each. I am the official current kill leader on this team and I also feel like my head's been crushed in a vice grip due to being stuck on, "tank," duty or whatever you called it…so if you two could do me a solid and shut the hell up it'd be much appreciated. Thank you."

"Wow, ok then." The sniper talked over the channel.

"Touchy." I heard from the adept next to me.

"One more down." I turned and looked to where Ben had his own sniper rifle out, a semi-automatic M97 Viper.

"What the hell?"

"I said I got one, it's down to two left team."

"Well…shit."

Laughter from the rest of the team drifted through my earpiece as the fight continued. "I'm afraid your position atop the leaderboard is shared now Wolf."

"Thanks for that Barnes."

A loud three round-burst from a sniper rifle took out one of the last two soldiers in an instant before Marissa yelled uncharacteristically loudly. "I got one!"

"Nice job 'Rissa." Mitch's voice came over the channel. "Alright, we've got one left team. No screw ups and we'll stay unblemished." The fire from all six of us pounded away at the last remaining enemy team member. He yelled once again. "Let's finish this guys. Draw the noose."

With that I ran down the hill, still stumbling slightly. On the other side Diego shadowed me as we began to flank the unfortunate bastard still standing. As we stepped around the large outcropping he was behind Diego and I peppered the man with rounds. As the shields dropped my rifle overheated. Shit, I wasn't even paying attention to that. What a rookie mistake. The gun vented the excess heat and I could feel it through the gloves I wore. I'm embarrassed to say I dropped the Mattock in surprise and swore loudly. "Holy shit, that stings like a bitch."

"Taken one down." The triumphant voice of Diego alerted all of us to the fact that the last remaining member of the opposition had been eliminated. I sighed resignedly, does something stupid have to happen to me every time I enter a sim? It's like the entire damn universe is out to publicly humiliate me.

I opened up a private channel to Diego before taking a knee due to the pain shooting through my head once again. "Hey, uh, Diego you keep this little accident on the down low for me and next time you feel like making a 'supply' run I'll cover for you, how's that sound?"

"Cover what up Wolf?" He gave a cheeky grin. "I don't even know what you're talking about."

"You're a good man Private Barnes."

"I just try to do my part."

I stood back up as the rest of the team circled up and gave a small pat on the back to each other for a job well done. "Nice one Sierra Squad." Corporal Woley collapsed his helmet into the armor as he talked. "Way to stick to the plan even through some comm difficulties and execute it."

Talia yelled loudly. "And Wolf didn't black out this time!"

A loud cheer went up from our group that I sarcastically joined in on before turning my back and as we walked away Mitch pulled me to the side. "Hey, good work out there buddy. Those biotic walls are coming along nicely."

"Thanks." I didn't mean to be short with the guy but erecting the bio-cade that many times had worn me out. That and I was a little pissy at being put on, "meatshield," duty again even if I had played it off during the simulated fight. And while I didn't black out this time I came pretty fucking close again. I didn't really feel like

"Hey, you alright. You're a little quiet."

"Doing fine. I'm just tired."

"You sure? You don't really seem like yourself."

I raised my voice at Mitch, tired of the continued questioning. "I said I'm fucking fine alright? Maybe I'm tired from drawing fire from half-a-dozen people for this last drill and need a break from being 'Private Meatshield.' That ever cross your mind? Last time I used that thing I blacked out and what's the first thing you did today? That's right, you put me in a position where I'd be screwed if I didn't do it again."

"So, that's what this is about? You think I don't know what I'm doing?"

"That's not even close to what I said. What I said was that I'm tired of being stuck right in the middle of the shittiest situations possible and being told to fucking deal with it. All the while," I pointed a finger into his face, "you sit back playing armchair quarterback and doing your little sniping thing. I don't say anything in front of the team since I don't want to undermine you, I'm not that big of a jackass, but it sucks to be the distraction **all **the time."

Mitch began to retort, still in an infuriatingly calm tone of voice. "You agreed to it though. We all discussed this and said that this was the best plan. Plus you seemed fine out in the field just now."

I just raised my hand as I walked away. "You know what, I don't need this shit right now. I'm heading back to the barracks and getting out of this armor. Have fun with the rest of the team celebrating."

**LINE BREAK**

The hot water from the shower splashed over my face and I smiled a little at the relaxing effect it brought. After the scrimmage was over I went back to the quarters, changed out of my armor and did some maintenance on my weapons while I waited for the team to clear out. Needless to say, after my little spat with Mitch I didn't feel like washing up with the rest of the squad. I scrubbed what little hair I had remaining with shampoo and washed it off before turning off the water and walking into the locker room, towel wrapped around my lower half.

"Hey Wolf?"

I whirled to see Private Second Class Marissa Simmons in the gray and blue Alliance shorts and tee shirt that were standard for when we didn't have anything to do for the rest of the day. I sighed loudly and opened up my locker, grabbing my clothing. "Hey 'Rissa. What's up?"

She blushed a little bit at my lack of clothing, before giving a little, "huh," noise as if making a discovery. "I guess they weren't lying then, that's definitely a ten."

"Who's they?" I moved behind a low wall and began to change into Alliance casual gear as we talked.

"Oh, you know. People like to talk, they've got nothing better to do on base but gossip."

"That's for sure."

"Can I ask you something?"

"Sure, why not?" I gave a little shrug.

She paused for a moment as she considered her words carefully. "When you were with the Reds and you went through the, 'initiation' or whatever they called it, did you really," her voice got quiet, "did you really shoot those people?"

"Yeah," I threw my shirt on, "one of those two people happened to be my only friend growing up too."

"So, when you abandoned the Reds that was obviously a pretty big risk right? Gangs like that don't just let members leave and if you would have gone along with them you wouldn't have risked anything besides your morality. You put your life at risk because it was the right thing to do, even at the cost of your friend."

I looked at her with an expression that basically meant, "no shit." "Yeah, I might have been a criminal but I would never kill an innocent man, or turian in this case. And as for Finch, I still don't know how I feel about him personally, but I know I'm not that ethically bankrupt. Not yet at least."

"Right, and when your girlfriend back home was in trouble and you were being chased you stayed behind even though you could've died."

"Yeah I did. I wouldn't let somebody I dragged into a situation unknowingly get killed because of me either." I paused for a moment. "Who told you about that, just out of curiosity?"

"I'll get to that in a moment." She sat down on a wooden bench and patted for me to sit next to her, which I did now that I was fully clothed. "Anyway, what I was trying to say is that obviously you are, maybe not reckless, but you have no qualms about getting into dangerous situations." Ok, where is she going with this? "So, my question then is why did you have so much of an issue then with being put out front there when fake bullets are being fired at you when you clearly have no trouble getting into real danger? I heard you and Mitch when we were leaving the field today."

Oh, that's where it's going. And I really didn't have an answer for her, at least one that I could vocalize. When I was silent for a few seconds she continued. "I'll take a guess then if that's ok with you?" I nodded. "Now you know who it was that told me about the Reds, Emma and everything that happened back in Detroit?"

"Mitch, probably."

"Yeah it was, when Major Kyle told us who was going to be the last member of the team he was really excited, you should've seen him."

I scoffed. "Yeah I'm sure."

She punched me lightly on the shoulder. "I'm being serious here, now try and put yourself in his shoes. You're put in charge of a team of soldiers around your age and two of them happen to have been your closest friends back in boot camp. That's a tough line to walk, maintaining the balance between friend and CO, what do you think?" I just gave a shrug but I could kind of see where she was coming from. I'm not the easiest person to handle anyway so maybe Mitch felt like he had to compensate a little bit. "In addition to your two friends, the other three people in the group are complete unknowns. You also have to manage them while getting to know what makes them tick."

I finally spoke up. "If you don't cut it as a Marine, you should apply for a shrink job back home."

"Maybe I will." She gave a friendly smile. "But back to you. I think the real issue is that you're scared."

I gave a dismissive wave, laughed and leaned back in my seat. "Please, I'm not scared of anyone. I'll fight anyone, anywhere and with any weapons."

"I didn't say 'anyone,' did I? I only said that you were scared. My guess is that your amp almost frying again today is a major part of it."

I looked up at her. "You saw that?"

"Yeah, your last time doing it you practically collapsed." The engineer then gave me a couple reassuring pats on the back. "You haven't faced a problem like that before. It's not some street thug that you can fight, that's your brain you're struggling against. You could just be going through biotic drills like normal when it blows and just like that you have some serious, potentially fatal issues that are completely out of your control. I think that's why you flipped out on Woley today. Am I close?"

I just grumbled. "Maybe, you did say part though, what's the other part I'm afraid of then?"

"Betrayal probably." She shrugged.

"That's crazy. The biotic stuff ok, you're spot on there but Mitch betraying me?" I cackled loudly. "The guy's a boy scout in Marine attire. I've never once thought that Mitch is gonna shoot me in the back or anything like that."

"Well, there's a lot of forms of betrayal. I don't mean that Mitch is literally going to physically betray you but the authorities and friends in your life, other than your unofficial Dad, haven't exactly been there for you. Now that Mitch is your commanding officer you're worried that he's going to do the same thing."

"…I guess that does make a little bit of sense."

"And his need for professionalism as a CO is only adding to that paranoia you're feeling." The shorter woman stood up and held out her hand, pulling me to my feet next to her. "So, how are you feeling now?"

"I think I understand." I sighed loudly. "I should probably apologize to Mitch, right?"

"That's a start." She tilted her head and tapped her chin. "But what you really need to do is come to an agreement, just offering up a one-sided apology isn't going to help you at all. Plus, with Mitch being your commanding officer it's his job to make sure everyone's comfortable and working together as a cohesive unit so just explain your side of things and see what he says alright?"

I started walking to the door. "I can do that."

"Wait." Before I could get to the door she grabbed my arm and stopped me. "If you ever need to vent too, just let me know alright? Don't just hide behind the sarcasm and jokes, you keep doing that and internalizing everything you're going to keep blowing up like this."

"You really should have been a shrink." I gave a big smile and before the door closed I added one final statement. "Thanks for that 'Rissa, you're the best."

She beamed back in a pleasant manner. "Anytime Wolf, good luck with Mitch." She gave a final wave as the door slammed shut behind me.

**LINE BREAK**

"Mitch? You in here buddy?" I peeked my head into the armory barracks where all the maintenance on weapons and armor was done. Big Ben had been out in the hallway and directed me towards this portion of the building if I was looking for the sniper. Well, somebody's in here, the sound of metal clattering confirmed that for me. Walking around the corner I took in the sight of the blonde Corporal disassembling his M92 Mantis while he sat at a workbench.

Approaching cautiously I called out again to the CO just in case he actually hadn't heard me instead of just choosing to ignore the words I spoke. If I was him I probably would've ignored me. "Hey, need any help Corporal?"

"What do you want Wolf?" His tone was gruff, not unfriendly but still a little rough. "Coming to yell some more?"

I almost fired back with a sarcastic response before remembering that I was here to apologize to the guy. Probably wouldn't help if I started off again with the insults. "Nah," I took a seat next to him and grabbed the M77 Paladin he used as a sidearm and began to take it apart to clean it, "believe it or not I actually came here to apologize."

"You? Apologize? That doesn't sound like the Wolf I know." He just kept cleaning the sniper rifle as he talked. "The guy I know would've said something snarky by now."

"Well, usually I would have but I talked to Marissa after getting out of the shower and she talked some sense into me. Girl knows me better than I know myself."

"That sounds terrible." Oh hahaha Mitch, good one.

"Yeah, it must be. Anyway, what I wanted to say was that I'm sorry for snapping at you like that." I stopped the maintenance on the gun and turned to Mitch. "I was freaking out about a couple things, namely my amp frying from bio-cades along with some other personal baggage I carried with me from back home." He just gave a little grunt. "Plus, I didn't think of your situation either. It must be tough to be thrust into a situation where you're leading a group of five other people, two of whom you're friends with and three others who are complete unknowns. Plus you're supposed to lead those people into combat in addition to just managing them and their personalities around the base."

I waited for Mitch to say something but no response came. He did however stop the work he was doing on his weapon of choice. "I recognize now that you stuck me up there on the front simply because that's what the best thing for our group was." I gave a little chuckle. "Even if it wasn't the most comfortable situation for me to be in." Hey, I got a smile out of him with that one. "I guess all that I'm saying is that no matter what happens I'll respect your decisions and know that you just want what's best for everybody. If needed, I'll even keep the sarcastic comments to a minimum while I do it, as hard as that may be."

Mitch still said nothing so I opted to leave, having said my piece. I grabbed the door handle and once again before I could exit the room I was interrupted. "Hey Wolf, thanks for saying that. I might not say much about it but sometimes I get a little overwhelmed from the responsibility." He gave a derisive chuckle. "I know right? Me, Mr. Perfect back in boot, the guy who didn't do anything wrong is worried. But it's true. I worry all the time. Every decision I make I fret about constantly and believe it or not, your stupid little comments help me get my mind off that fear and focus on the task at hand. So you ever feel the need to bitch about something or make some sardonic comment, my comm is open."

I grinned back at the infiltrator. "Thanks Mitch, you know you're gonna regret those words though. You just gave me free reign to complain to my superior officer." As I left the area a loud sigh could be heard through the door along with a muffled curse. Yeah, there's going to be plenty more of that coming up soon. For now though, all's well on Elysium.

**A/N: Would have liked to get this out earlier but work tied me up, not much else to say other than happy 2015 everybody!**

**Ranger Station Charlie is my beta.**

**JMA: Yup. Don't want to give anything away on future happenings but there's definitely a plan in place. My beta, RSC and I have hammered out a timeline that runs through the end of ME1 and kicks off the two years between 1 and 2.**

**Yeah there's definitely going to be a little bit of skipping in the future since I'd like to get into the ME1 storyline sometime this year, lol.**

**I've actually got all that little stuff typed out so I can access it quickly but thanks for sending that over!**

**RSC: I know. You can only right sim fights for so long but thankfully this'll be the last one before some real shit goes down.**

**That's kind of the same thing I've always thought too. A lot of the vanguard powers are high force by nature whereas the ones that require a mix of both like singularity are left to the adepts. Wolf's strengths are definitely power and reserves, the control he's still working on.**

**Yup, Wolf is kind of reckless by nature and tends to go all out in everything so he'll have to learn how to pace himself. Otherwise as soon as he gets into a fight his reserves will be instantly shredded.**


	22. In Spaaaaaace!

Space, I hate space. It's just so, dead. Nothing out there but cold, empty, darkness with stars swirling about. Months had passed since my little spat and subsequent make-up with Mitch. In that passage of time we had been stationed aboard the Frigate-class SSV Hong Kong, a beautiful ship, inside and out…as long as you don't mind the whole being stuck in an endless expanse thing. Up top was the CIC with all the bigwigs who actually knew shit about flying, going about, doing their whole navigating and piloting thing. The second floor consisted of the mess hall, and a few other odds and ends like the medical personnel's office. If you took the elevator down a floor you entered the armory and engineering rooms where most of the grunt work was done, including my job, performing routine maintenance on all weapons and armor which was just fine with me. Finally, the lowest floor of the ship was divided between the sleeping quarters and oddly enough, a firing range. I know right? Doesn't seem like the smartest thing to put on the same level but it was actually surprisingly muffled when the door was closed in personal quarters.

We were now most of the way through the year twenty-one, seventy-eight and in a recent new development I had been promoted, for some odd reason, to Corporal. The best part about that was the fact that I was now technically on the same level as Woley which allowed me to give him shit to no end, even though we unanimously decided that he should remain the official team leader. What can I say, some people are born to be alpha dogs and I am not one of them. I'd much rather be the snarky supporter who only has to worry about fighting the bad guys and not any of that, "big decision," crap.

Speaking of fighting the bad guys, the action had been almost non-existent, unless you count the firing range, since the team's move to the Hong Kong. Sure, we'd run into some slaver ships every now and then but because of rough relationships with the Batarian Hegemony we didn't fire unless fired upon and despite being slaver scum they weren't dumb enough to do that since we'd tear them to shreds in minutes. So basically for the last few months I've done nothing but maintenance on equipment, chat with the rest of the squad and rush around every time we've come in contact with another ship only for nothing to happen. It was mind-numbingly boring.

"Wolf, what's happening?" I was sitting at the table I used for taking care of the gear in my allotted time when Ben, Diego and Marissa came over to join me. "Could you use some help?"

I scooted to the end of the bench and spread my arms wide to indicate they should sit down. "Sure, if you guys want to, that'd be great." I paused as I thought of something. "Just don't touch my gear, the only person I let mess with my equipment, besides myself, is my Dad. So, you see something that's mine just pass it along and do not even think about touching it. Please."

Ben gave a big smile. "Yeah, I think we get the picture Wolf. Don't touch your stuff. Under any circumstances."

"Great, now that that's out of the way, what've you guys been up to lately?"

Marissa spoke up. "I've been working down in engineering along with Diego. Since we've both got some tech knowledge I guess they figured they could send us there and get some use out of us while we're cooped up on the ship."

"I've been working on the weaponry on the Grizzly, thing's a beast. We ever actually get deployed somewhere and that thing's going to fucking kick ass."

"Yeah," I turned to Ben, "that's a big if. With all that talk from Major Kyle about something big being on the horizon it hasn't really panned out yet."

He talked over his shoulder while still assembling a rifle. "Yeah, we'll see. Still got some time though, at least another few months shipboard before heading back to solid ground."

"I say we put down some money on the thing." Diego made a proposition. "One-hundred credits each on whether or not we see some action before leaving the Hong Kong. I say we do."

"I'm in." I raised my hand. "I say no fights."

Ben finished putting the weapon together. "I'm with Wolf."

"I think Diego's right." Marissa cut in. "Something's going to happen. I don't know what, but definitely something."

We all shook hands. "Alright, we all give one hundred credits each to Corporal Mitch to hold onto for safekeeping and once the results are in he's responsible for the payouts. Agreed?"

The other three readily assented and I called Mitch over from where he was talking to Talia. "Mitch! We're transferring four-hundred credits to you to hold onto for a bet. Don't spend it or so help me I will kick your ass before you can say 'big spender.'"

He just waved his hand dismissively. "Sure, whatever you say Wolf."

**LINE BREAK**

I stretched and yawned after waking up. It'd been a few days since the bet had gone down and so far, so good. I could use another two hundred credits in the bank account back home. That is the nice thing about military life, expenses are virtually zero. Especially since I'm not paying for housing of my own. Right now I was stuck in a tiny room that was nothing but six lockers and beds that made up the storage and sleeping area for Specialist Team. Guess I could go to the range for some practice. Grabbing my Mattock and Phalanx from the locker I kept my armaments in I opened the range only to see Ben and Marissa in the corner in a somewhat compromising position. Wow, talk about a height difference. I thought I was taller than Emma but this is like a foot and a half. Turning around, I tried to discreetly exit before they could see me only to trip over a weapons case. "Shit, sorry you two just keep on doing what you're doing. Don't mind me. Leaving now."

The two of them jumped up, alarmed at their kiss being broken up. Ben waved his hands. "Hey, uh, it's not what it looks like." He chuckled nervously. "Well, I take that back it's exactly what it looks like. Just please don't tell anybody ok?"

"Sure, it's not like it's a big deal or anything."

Marissa's cheeks were extremely red. "Well, technically it is against the regulations. We could get in some serious trouble if someone found out."

"C'mon, you guys know me." I just pointed to myself and laughed in a carefree manner. "Do you two really think I care about the regs?"

"No, I guess not." Ben scratched his hair uncertainly.

"So, how long have you two been…you know?" I just pointed to the two of them.

Marissa once again blushed at the implications. "Just a couple weeks, we've been pretty discreet like I said, because of the regulations."

"Gotcha." I walked over to the range, grabbed an ammo block and began to set up for some practice. "That's great, I'm happy for you two lovebirds and like I said, your secret is safe with me. If you don't mind though, I'd like to get in a little bit of practice with Maddie and Felicia before I have to go upstairs for some maintenance time." The two just looked at me curiously and I sighed. "My Mattock and Phalanx, respectively. C'mon Ben, I know you've named at least one of your weapons."

"You really name your weapons, must be a guy thing." She gave the two of us a curious look.

He just coughed uneasily. "What are you talking about Wolf? I've never done that. Ever."

"Right…" Ben was saved by the intercom.

"Sierra team, report to the meeting room. Major Kyle needs to speak with you. Immediately."

"Fuck!" I had a strange feeling like I was going to be short one-hundred credits.

Ben just laughed loudly. "Yeah, that about sums it up."

I dashed back into my room, hurriedly putting away my two firearms in the steel-grey Alliance cabinet. "I swear to God, if I don't catch that elevator…" Leaving the threat unfinished, I sprinted to the elevator yelling at the five members of my team that were already assembled there. "Hold the fucking door!" Mitch's hand burst through before the elevator could completely close and I panted heavily as I joined Sierra team and we ascended. "Thanks Mitch."

Hushed conversation filled the cramped room as we inched towards the CIC.

"So, you think this is gonna be the real thing?" 

"It's gonna be no big deal, he's called us up to talk to us before."

"Yeah but he's never said, 'immediately' before now has he?"

Diego leaned in and elbowed me playfully. "I think those hundred credits are going to be missing from your pockets pretty soon, eh Wolf?"

"Yeah," I sighed, "I could've used that money too. Second year anniversary's coming up for me and Emma. She's been dropping some not so subtle hints about jewelry she wants and believe it or not but that Marine grunt salary doesn't leave a ton of room for expensive accessories."

"You have a picture?"

"Yeah, one sec." I pulled up the photograph of the piece of hardware, a beautiful silver necklace, with sparkling blue sapphires that matched her eyes perfectly. In response he just laughed, which made me a little nervous, to say the least. "What? What are you laughing about?"

"You are completely screwed buddy." He clapped me on the back and walked out as the door opened, still laughing the whole time.

"Diego? Wait a second, what do you mean? Come on, it's not **that **expensive right? Right? Fuck."

Talia came by and looked over my shoulder at the picture that was still up. "Trouble in paradise Wolf?"

"Nah, everything's good. Two year anniversary for us is coming up soon so I wanted to get Emma something special and apparently this is what she wanted."

"Let me see that." She leaned forward and scrutinized the object in question, squinting the whole time. My nerves doubled when she too began to laugh heartily. "Diego's right, you **are **screwed."

"You guys suck." Right before we're about to get sent on our first mission and now I'm going to be worried about this the whole time. Ok, I'll probably have bigger things on my mind if we do actually get sent in, but still. "Fine, you know what I'm ordering this right now. At least if I die on whatever this stupid mission is we're getting sent on she'll have a nice gift. I pulled up the item in the online store as we walked into the room where Kyle was waiting for us with a large holographic display covering one wall.

I made sure to take one of the empty seats in the back so my omni-tool activies would remain undisturbed. As he began to talk I proceeded to the checkout and finalized purchasing the jewelry, only now seeing the price. Two thousand dollars! I could buy a brand new pistol of decent quality for that much back home. It's a shiny neck thing, how the hell does this cost so much? I began to cough loudly as shock set in and the rest of the team turned to face me, Talia and Diego grinning knowingly the whole time, realizing what had just happened.

The superior officer interrupted his presentation to address me. "Everything okay back there Corporal Wolfert?"

"Yes sir, just choked on something for a second I apologize."

"Ok then, as I was saying." I mentally kissed goodbye to my bank account and finalized the order to be shipped to the Armory back in Detroit, if I'm paying that much for something I'm at least going to give it to Em myself. Piece of shit jewelry, whoever decided that anniversaries are going to be a thing is getting warped right up their ass. "How would you guys like to payback the bastards who attacked Elysium?" A loud, hearty cheer shook the room. "Well, this is our chance right here. We've found where the scum responsible for the attack are holing up and we're going to go in and give the bastards a little payback, Marine style. Tomorrow we're going to Torfan boys."

He pointed to a large complex on the screen. "The slavers are jammed up tight in here, a large compound that stretches multiple levels and is a total and complete clusterfuck of interconnecting tunnels. Intel on what you guys will find inside is almost nil, the only thing we do know for sure is that all their communications are holed up in one big room along with some high-profile targets who are likely to be in the vicinity. Alliance Intel has also found out that they have been using this as a base of operations for quite some time so expect ambushes and guerilla warfare. This is their home gentlemen, they will fight to the death to defend it. Now, we've been bombarding the fortress with small fighter-based attacks for last thirty-six hours so hopefully that's going to help lighten up some of the resistance you boys will be facing."

I raised my hand. "Sir, do we have any way of identifying the VIP's you mentioned?" 

"Yes, pictures will be sent to your omni-tool of their main two leaders who we know for sure to be in the vicinity. You are to do whatever it takes to neutralize this duo."

"Major, clarification on what you mean by, 'neutralize?'"

"Capture if at all possible Corporal Woley but do not hesitate to put them down if resisted or if you will be put in a hazardous situation by attempting it. Does that answer your question son?"

"Yes sir it does."

"Now, in addition to the slavers we have it on a very good authority that some members of the Batarian Special Intervention Unit, their version of the Special Forces, along with a highly ranked lieutenant named Granin Rokneba, are in the facility. These guys do most of the dirty work even though the Hegemony disavows any knowledge of them working with slavers. So in short, we probably won't be able to pin it to the batarians and make it stick so don't bother."

A grainy picture of a hulking batarian with an ashy grey face, outfitted in spiky midnight-black armor appeared on the screen. "Rokneba is a force to be reckoned with and is wanted all over Citadel space for various crimes against all sentient species. Of course, the batarians insist that they have no knowledge of these events either and publicly discredits the man along with his hand-chosen elite fighting force. All the while they're funding them with whatever armaments they can spare in order to get their slimy hands on as much profit as possible."

He paused for a moment and got a drink of water to clear his throat. "Listen, you boys are most likely going to be outnumbered tomorrow when you go in. However what you do have on your side is the fact that our weapons, armor and training is better. Use that to your advantage and you six will do just fine. If you **do **run into SIU forces they will most likely be equipped with all black armor similar to Rokneba in an effort to remain anonymous but when you start to fight you will recognize the difference immediately. In addition to this, Granin himself from all accounts is a powerful biotic vanguard that stalks the battlefield with deadly efficiency and quickness. I cannot stress this enough, if you run into the SIU, especially Rokneba, be extremely cautious and take them as an extremely deadly threat." He chuckled a little bit. Probably at the fact that he just told us to be cautious in the middle of a firefight which goes without saying.

"Now, the plan is that we're sending in the majority of the forces first and holding some reserves back to figure out where the resistance is going to be coming from and in what excess since our intel on the actual structure itself is so minimal. Sierra team will be among those held back. The last thing I want is for six talented individuals such as yourselves to be put somewhere your skills will unneeded. Don't you kids worry though, as soon as contact is made we will be putting in the heavy hitters to clean up the slaver trash." I think he was starting to wrap up the meeting now, I can hope at least. "Now I know that the six of you have been training for two years for just this moment. You probably have been salivating for the chance to finally get your boots on the ground and face the enemy in close combat. Just remember that when you get down in the shit tomorrow, these other five people in this room have got your back no matter what. Everyone's nervous but don't forget, in about eighteen hours you guys are going to have a real chance to strike a blow for the Alliance and right a few of the wrongs that have been done to our people."

Everyone gave a loud, "oorah," at the orders. Like he said, this is what we trained for. Doesn't leave a whole lot of time though. "You have until we touch down to make whatever personal calls are needed. Get some sleep if you can. I know that's the last thing on your mind right now but what we don't need soldiers who are fatigued out there tomorrow. Sierra team, you are dismissed." The six of us rose to our feet, saluted and then exited the room in step behind the Major.

As the team left the meeting room we huddled up and as soon as Major Kyle was out of sight Diego began to cackle loudly. "Pay up Ben and Wolf, it's been a pleasure doing business with the two of you."

Mitch stepped forward and opened up his omni-tool. "And…two hundred credits each to Privates Barnes and Simmons, don't spend it all in one place you two."

I turned and looked at Ben, giving a "what can a guy do," expression. "You know what they say, easy come, easy go."

"Yeah, this looks like it's shaping up to be an expensive day for you Wolf. First the necklace and now this?"

"Yeah, I'm gonna try and forget about this really quick. Shooting some batarians might be just what I need."

Talia yelled from the other room. "I call Rocky or whatever his name is."

"Granin Rokneba." Mitch corrected her from another hallway, putting particular stress on the name.

"Oh whatever Woley, he's still mine. The big grey bastard's good as dead."

Chuckling to myself at the banter from the two, I punched the button leading to the elevator. So, two thousand one hundred dollars poorer than when I came up a few minutes prior, I headed back down and into the team's personal quarters. Who do I call first? Well, obviously I'm calling Dad, Emma, probably talk to Dax for a couple minutes and…I could try Jimmy. Haven't talked to the guy in months so I guess there's no better time than now, just a little while before I threw myself headfirst into what could be my last day alive. God, I need to stop thinking so morbidly.

Well, first things first. I brought up Jimmy Vega's contact info and the telltale ring of an outgoing call began to fill the room. And just kept ringing, it would go to voicemail. "Hi-"

I hurriedly began to talk. "Jimmy, hey buddy it's Wolf."

"You've reached Jimmy Vega, Marine and kickass Delta operator. I'm busy right now but just leave me a little message and I'll get in touch with you when I can." 

Dammit. I sighed loudly and waited to talk until the beep. "Jimmy, hey buddy, Wolf here from back at Boot, just in case you forgot about me. I know we haven't talked since, geez, probably shortly after MOS training. Hope everything's going well for you over in Delta and your CO's not too much of a jerkass, I know I got stuck with Woley as squad leader so I've been miserable." I gave a short little laugh to show that I was joking. "Well, the real reason I called is there's some big shit going down tomorrow and Mitch, Big Ben and I are going to be right in the thick of it. Can't say too much about it, you know how it goes with the Alliance and keeping secrets, but trust me you'll know it when you see it on the news that's for sure. Anyway, wanted to check in with you just in case shit uh…goes south. If that is the case then just know that I appreciate everything you did for me back in Basic, shooting, lifting and kicking my ass anytime we sparred. The four of us had a lot of fun together and that was one hell of a party on graduation night." I chuckled, reminiscing at the recollection of our run-in with the law. "Well, I'm gonna get going then. Only have about eighteen hours to get my shit sorted out so I still gotta call pops and the girlfriend in addition to prepping my armor and weapons. God knows I'll be screwing with those until the very last minute making sure everything's straight and in order. Be nice to get a little bit of sleep too, if that's even possible at this point, my nerves are fucking shredded. So…I'll catch you later Jimmy, have a good one buddy."

I hit end on the screen. One down, two to go. Would have been nice to actually talk with Vega directly though. Who next? Emma or Jack? Eh, I'll just call Emma next. I brought up the omni-tool and began to type out a message. "_Hey can you talk? Not sure what time it is back in Detroit but if you're free, give me a call." _There, send.

I waited a couple minutes for the response before a ding alerted me to an incoming message from Emma Perri. "_On lunch break in ten. I'll call you then." _Great, more waiting. Just what I need.

I paced the room, which was only about five steps wide as stress bombarded me from all sides. Finally, a picture of Emma appeared and my omni-tool began to ring indicating an incoming call. "Hey, how are you doing Emma?"

"Doing good Wolfy." I smiled at hearing her voice coming through the speaker, even if she used the terrible nickname. "What's wrong? Why are you calling me?"

"What? Why would something have to be wrong for me to call my beautiful, charming girlfriend?" I put a tone of disbelief in my voice.

"Well, usually you'll just call me, this time you sent a message in advance. Plus, you just did your fake, incredulous voice thing right there, meaning that you do have something that's wrong." Dammit, she catches on too quickly. "So, don't try and do your little 'half-truth' thing that you love to do, just tell me what's up."

"Alright, well in that case, here's the current situation. Within the next twenty-four hours I'm going to be in combat and could possibly be dead. You know the slavers that attacked Elysium? Well, we found them and my team is part of the attack force that's raiding their main compound." There was a long pause on the other end. "You still there Emma?"

"Yeah. I'm here." She gave a humorless chuckle. "Wow. That really was blunt, I did ask for it though I guess." She sighed loudly. "Just…wow, I figured it was going to be bad, didn't know it would be this drastic. How are you handling the news?" She tried to put on a more cheerful tone.

I thought about it for a second before answering. "You know, I'm really not sure. Part of me is scared shitless, dreading tomorrow and kicking myself for ever joining the Marines. The other part though is a sort of calm acceptance if that makes any sense. When I signed up I didn't know whether or not I'd ever get in a fight but I've been spending the last two years of my life simulating them practically non-stop so in a sense I'm a bit relieved that the actual thing is finally going to happen. It's like the pressure and stress have just been building up and building up and now the real thing is actually going to happen."

"I guess that makes sense, although I think the "being scared shitless" would probably outweigh the other part if I had to guess."

"Yeah, it hasn't really hit yet. I'm sure once I get on that shuttle tomorrow then it'll jump me and I'll be freaking out the whole time."

"Well, at least you'll have the other guys there with you to help you out, just remember that they're probably feeling the exact same way."

"I sure hope I'm not the only one." I paused for a moment before remembering something. "Oh, and I've got some paid leave saved up so after this whole thing is done I'm coming back to Detroit to spend our two-year anniversary together."

She laughed lightly. "And here I was thinking for sure that you'd forget the big day."

"As if. There might be a little something I bought for you too. I think you'll like it."

"Just get back here safe. That'll be enough of a gift Wolf."

"Don't worry, I'll say the same thing I already told you back when I was drugged up. Even if I was a little out of it, that part was true. Those guys won't touch me out there." Pausing for a moment before adopting my own fake upbeat tone, I continued. "Plus I'll have Mitch, Ben and the rest of the team out there on the battlefield. We'll be just fine, trust me."

"Good, just promise me that whatever happens you're coming back from this alright?"

I hesitated. Truth is I didn't really know what was going to happen, intel on the target was scarce and this was our first time fighting. I was pretty confident in our team's capabilities but still, it's fucking war. Who knows what's going to happen, I already promised to get Mitch out of there and now I have to promise this too. "Emma…I don't really know if I can promise that. This is the real thing tomorrow an-"

"Just promise me alright? I know what the situation is, I'm not stupid, but just do it anyway." She insisted. "Even though I won't get any sleep tonight knowing what you're up to it'll make me feel just the tiniest bit better."

Exhaling resignedly I replied. "…Ok Emma, I promise. No matter what happens, I Nathaniel Drake Wolfert, am coming back to Detroit for our anniversary two weeks from today. I swear it on my Mother's grave."

"And you're going to call me as soon as you get done with this whole business."

"And I'm going to call you as soon as I'm done with this whole business." I parroted back to her.

"Good, now I'm going to hang up before I start to cry." A sniffle sounded from the other end of the call, backing up her words.

"Hey Emma, before you go I just want you to know something." I took a deep breath and got ready to take the plunge. "I…I love you, these last two years have been the best of my life. I can't wait until these five years are done with and I'm back in Detroit, with you. If this really is it for us then I don't regret anything. Running into you at the Alliance recruiting station was the most fortunate thing that ever happened to me."

Silence greeted me. "…I love you too Wolf, goodbye."

I turned off the omni-tool and leaned back into the bed I was sitting in. Wow, that was draining. I feel like my insides just got shaken and then put back in. No way am I calling Jack after that, need a bit of time to compose myself. Might as well try and sleep I guess.

**LINE BREAK**

"So, how'd your talk with Emma go Wolf?"

I put my weapons away in my locker along with my armor. Mitch and I had just gotten back from the range where we had been relieving a bit of stress by making holes in holograms. About four hours of sleep is what I had managed before the nightmares had forced me back into the land of the living. "Could've been a lot worse. We chatted for a little bit about the anniversary and me coming back to Detroit but then things got serious. She did the whole 'promise you'll come back alive' thing. I hesitated before caving, then before she hung up I told her I loved her and can't wait to get back to Detroit."

"You dropped the L bomb?" The blonde sniper looked at me incredulously. "First time right?"

I nodded. "Yeah, I kind of figured it was an appropriate time considering I might be dead twelve hours from now. Don't know if I'll ever get the chance to say it again."

Marissa walked in. "That's so sweet Wolf, I'm happy for you. And don't worry, as the official team medic I'll make sure that you get back to your ladylove in one piece."

"Thanks 'Rissa, you're the best you know that?" She just smiled shyly. "Not just me though, we're all coming back here in one piece. But not before we kick some serious slaver ass." I finished my cleaning and storing process before walking out. "I'll see you two later. I have to call my Dad."

For the second time in a short duration I found a quiet spot and hit the contact info, this time calling Ramsey's Armory though. I tapped my foot anxiously, waiting for the ex-N7 to pick up. Instead of the gruff tone of the Marine however, a particularly flanging voice answered on the other end. "Ramsey's, you've reached Daxyrus. What can I do for you today?"

"Daxy!" A loud sigh came through the speaker. "Hey buddy it's Wolf, how are you?"

"Yeah I kinda figured from the fact that you're the only person I know who calls me 'Daxy,' 'Lenny,' or any other stupid nickname like that. But to answer your question, I'm doing great. Business is booming and Jack built another edition on the place that I'm living in now. I offered to pay for the thing but he insisted I let him do it. Your Dad's a great guy, makes me wonder how the…how does that human saying go, apple dropped from the tree."

I gave a chuckle at the butchered idiom. "I think you mean 'apple fell so far from the tree,' but you know, close enough. And for the record just remember that this apple saved your life two years ago."

"I remember and I'm honestly very thankful. It's just more entertaining to poke fun at you."

"Lennie…I feel the same way about you buddy."

"Good, glad we're in agreement here. Now what is it that you wanted? I'm sure that you didn't call just to banter with me."

The real reason for the call hit me like a ton of bricks and I swallowed loudly. "Oh. Right. Well, I need to talk to Jack about something. He available in there?"

"Sure thing, what's up?"

"I'm going to be in a real firefight in about, oh…" I looked at my omni-tool, "just over ten hours or so."

"Wow, I see. How you handling it so far?"

I gave a dark little snicker. "About as well as you can expect when news that you might be dead within the day is in the front of your mind. I even managed to get some sleep too so I'm feeling well rested and ready to go."

"Good. Good. The last thing you need going into this is to be stressed out and tired. Make sure to get some food and drink, especially with your biotics being taken into account. Who are you getting involved with if you're allowed to share?"

Pausing for a moment, I considered whether or not it'd be a breach of security to tell him. Eh, who cares, it's Dax, not like that's going to compromise anything. "Yeah we're fighting some slavers and possibly the Batarian SIU."

"Hmmm, you should have no problem with the slavers. They're most likely a bunch of undisciplined merc-types who aren't used to actually having a firefight on their hands. They'll be reckless so make sure to take advantage of that."

"Huh, sounds like you're speaking from experience Dax."

He gave a dismissive snort. "All turians are enrolled in the military so any of us worth his salt could tell you that. Plus, I know more than most. Like I told you I worked with the Cabals back in the day and we did some, let's just call them 'retaliatory strikes,' for when the batarians got a little too bold."

"I see. Any advice for dealing with the SIU if we run into them."

"Yeah, be careful and don't make any mistakes. If you fuck something up they will make you pay for it. Expect a deadly mixture of biotic, tech and heavy weapons to be leveled against you, those guys do not mess around. The training they receive, while not the most fine-tuned, is extremely harsh and only the most determined make it through. They're definitely some tough sons of bitches."

"Interesting. Thanks for that Dax. Any last tips?"

"Sure, keep your head down, communicate with your team, don't tire yourself out with biotics right off the bat, you need to pace yourself and finally, **do not **try and be a hero. Get in, listen to your CO, do your job and get out alive."

"I'll try and remember that." I jotted down some mental notes before continuing. "Thanks again Dax, could you get Jack for me?"

"Sure thing kid. Good luck out there and may the spirits watch over you as you go into battle."

I heard him walk away and yell for Jack. That was probably the first time I've ever said goodbye to Dax without some back-and-forth sarcasm being thrown at each other. Guess he just realizes how serious the situation I'm in is and figured it was inappropriate. "Hey son. Dax told me you're going in tomorrow."

"Dad…" I gulped in apprehension. "I'm scared. I've tried to be strong about it but I have never been more afraid than right now."

He sighed sadly. "I know kid. When I first fought at Shanxi I practically put a hole in the floor with how much I was pacing back and forth. You talk to Emma?"

"Yeah, I wanted to get that over with first. Figured I'd need a bit of time to recover after that and I was right. Got everything off my chest though and told her how I felt. I told I loved her and promised that I'm coming back to Detroit after all this is over."

Jack laughed wryly. "Girls have a way of making you do that don't they? I ever tell you about my fiancé when I was back in the Corps?"

"No, I had no clue you were engaged. Who was it to? Some girl back in Detroit?"

"Guess again." He gave another chuckle, this time it was more humorous however. "You had to do that Shanxi sim back in Boot didn't you."

"…Yeah, what does that have to do with anything?"

"Well, one of the people being carried was the love of my life, her codename was Huntress." Shit, that meant she passed away after the escape. That must be terrible making it all that way and then having her die just a short way away from safety. "She died in my arms on that shuttle ride and I never forgave myself. For years I beat myself up replaying the entire scenario in my mind. If only I'd done this differently, moved here instead of there, eliminated this target a half-second earlier she would've lived I thought to myself. To this day, I still fight that battle anytime I fall asleep."

"I'm sorry Dad. I didn't know."

"Don't be, that was a long time ago. The real reason I told you this now of all times is I don't want you to do the same thing. Whatever happens, don't try and shoulder the load by yourself. You have Emma, Dax and me back at home to share things with if you need to along with the rest of your team." He sighed loudly. "Listen son, I've got to go in a minute here but I just want to share few things with you to help you through that my CO said before Shanxi." He paused for a moment, considering his words carefully. "One, communicate out there. Two, keep your head down. Three, just do your job. Four, when the time comes, do what you have to do. Don't hesitate, that's why you've trained. And finally number five, always take care of your team."

"Thanks Dad, I'll remember that. And I'll call you when I make it to the other side of this shit. I love you."

"Love you too kid. Stay safe out there."

"I will."

**A/N: So yeah, Torfan's happening. Next chapter will definitely be interesting to say the least. Shit will finally get real.**

**Also, big thanks to everybody who's reviewed, favorited and followed this story. WiSC is now over 50 reviews and over 60 follows which doesn't seem like a ton but is mindboggling for me. Special thanks to Ranger Station Charlie, Unity9 and Twisted Platypus who've given me a ton of feedback and help throughout this thing.**

**On a more technical story-related note, the rewritten chapters are done through chapter five so I'm just over halfway through with the chapters I wanted to do some touching up on. And from here out chapters will be posted on Friday afternoons/evenings again for the foreseeable future.**

**Ranger Station Charlie is the main Beta man.**

**Twisted Platypus: Thanks! The combat scenes are starting to write themselves a little bit easier so I'm glad the quality's improving too.**

**RSC: Hmmm, I definitely like the idea's potential. Although, like you said the power needed to pull it off would be immense so it'd be something for much later on. Also, you'd have to make sure the way was clear of allies otherwise they'd get smashed along with the enemy. Of course since Wolf is usually lead dog (no pun intended) in terms of squad formation it wouldn't be as much of a problem for him.**

**Fallout Fan: I admire your stubbornness, keep up your fight against the Fanfiction man trying to hold you down by making an account!**

**It's funny you asked that because I had the same question when I was writing Vanguard training and I debated forever on whether or not it was possible for the charge to be learned before the L4/L5 implants. I kind of get in my own head about stuff like that. After lots and lots of wiki and game research the results I found were basically nothing. In canon (at least from what I turned up) nothing says whether or not it's possible either way and after that I went to Encyclopedia Biotica by LogicalPremise (thanks for the recommendation RSC!) which is a great resource that makes biotics more than, "space magic," and couldn't find anything there either. So to make a short answer long, I couldn't find an answer either way and since Vanguards are so heavily associated with the Charge I decided that Wolf would learn about it there.**


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